Without a voice Without a thought Without a sou
by Cyborgscouse
Summary: Set during the second episode and quickly goes off into my own story. Having to blend in so they wouldn’t attract attention Cameron is shown the different ways to keep John safe as the future leader of mankind struggles to expect his destiny while trying
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own anything about Terminator and I never will all I have is the plot for this and any characters I create.

Summary: Set during the second episode and quickly goes off into my own story. Having to blend in so they wouldn't attract attention Cameron is shown the different ways to keep John safe as the future leader of mankind struggles to expect his destiny while trying to help his cybernetic protector learn to act more like a human. John/Cameron

A/n: I know that this isn't the next story i said that i'd start, but after watching five episode of the show and enjoying it more then i thought i would i couldn't help myself. As well as the fact that after reading a number of stories on the show i was really hit the needing to try myself. Because of this, this story might not be updated as quickly as others much like my heroes one. Enjoy anyway, i hope xD.

_"Resse. Do we have a John Resse?" Cromartie asked looking up at the class as his hand slowly pushed into the hole he had carved in his leg gripping the gun that was concealed under the artificial skin, for a few seconds no one said anything making him think that the boy might have been at home; slowly though a hand rose snapping his attention to the shaggy haired male next to Cameron Philips. "Perfect," pulling the gun out and taking aim he watched as his target quickly threw himself to the floor, no doubt from his mothers training. The students unlucky enough to not have been that quick to react were caught with bullets aimed for John but missing their target._

_Staring down at the void face of the attractive girl and only person to have tried to talk to him filled John with a sense of dread, his mum had stopped Judgement day there was no reason for a Terminator to be after him again. Hearing more gun shots and then the shot of heavy feet coming closer to him he climbed back to his feet before rushing over to the window knowing he had to escape, it had been drilled into his head enough times that he had to survive; while most children where told bedtime stories when they were young and how they could be anything they wanted, he was told about the destructive future that awaited him and how his fate had already been decided._

_Not even five feet away from the window and ready to launch himself threw it John's body seized up feeling a sharp stabbing pain in his back before the sensation of something cold flowing down his skin, the sounds of screaming were dulled like he was hearing them under water. In what seemed to be slow motion to him, his body started to fall to the floor even as he turned his body having been ready to leap through the window seconds before the bullet tore through him; ragged breathes tore from his lungs and out of his mouth as he looked up at the ceiling of the classroom before Cromartie's face filled his vision pointing the gun down at him._

_"John Resse. John Connor, you can't stop judgement day. You have failed, the future belongs to us." Glowing red eyes stared down at him before the Terminator started to pull the trigger to end his life. _

Before it could happen John shot up in his bed covered in sweat, his breathing as uneven as it had been in the classroom, eyes dilated they flicked around his room trying to find a threat that wasn't there. This wasn't 1999 and Cromartie had shot him, he had managed to escape the cybernetic assassin long enough for Cameron to recover and save his life, which was before the Terminator he sent back from the future had taken him and his mum to 2007. Throwing the thin quilt off of the rest of his body john flicked his legs over to the side of his bed and let his head drop into his hands, it hadn't been the first time that he'd had nightmares about the Terminators killing him; but they had stopped years ago after he realised the threat of Judgement day had been averted. It seemed he was wrong.

Peeling off the white t-shirt that had been covered in sweat he tossed it to the corner of his room where a basket should have been, doubting he'd get any sleep for the rest of the night he quietly made his way out of his room before looking up and down the half not sure if he'd made any noise during his nightmare. Seeing no one there he shook his head bitterly and headed into the kitchen needing a drink of water to coo, him down and to check if there was any nightol knowing his mum often struggled to find any sleep most nights.

"You have received a third of the recommend sleep for a human to function efficiently." A monotone voice said from the living room doorway, nerves running slightly higher then they usually were he jumped slightly before turning around and seeing Cameron standing there in her underwear looking back at him curiously. Trying to keep his eyes from travelling down her body repeating the mantra 'she's a machine' over and over in his head did nothing to stop the knowledge that she was an extremely attractive machine. "Pupils dilated, breathing erratic and your perspiration glands are working at an elevated level. Are you sick?" she asked sounding as concerned as she could, which was surprisingly more then he thought a Terminator could; after all he had heard her sound put out and hopeful during his first day of school as she tried to talk to him.

"I couldn't sleep," he muttered turning away from her and walking towards the sink glass in hand, the shiver that ran down his spin told him that she was still watching. "I had a nightmare," he found himself saying not knowing the reason behind his need to explain himself to her, however he was met with a confused look as she tiled her head at him. It was things like that, he might have found cute of endearing on a human girl. "It's a human thing." He finished unable to keep the slight irritation from seeping into his tone, he was tired, knew he wouldn't get anymore sleep and was not in the mood to explain what a nightmare was to her.

"Nightmare. A terrifying dream in which the dreamer experiences feelings of helplessness, extreme anxiety or sorrow." Cameron said to his back, freezing mid step John turned slightly to look over his shoulder at her; "I read the dictionary. I don't sleep." She informed him seeing the confusion on his face, unsure of how he should respond to that comment he turned back towards his room and started to walk once again leaving her alone watching his retreating form. Looking around her immediate area making sure there were no threats around them she followed him to his room before stopping in the doorway, advanced eyesight allowed her to see the room clearly including the fact that John wasn't in it. Walking into the room urgently she spun around to see if he was merely not in her view from the doorway but was left with the same result. 'Primary objective – protect John Connor. Target status – missing." Standing in the room she didn't know where he could be and her first thought was that there had been someone waiting for him to get back to his room, an unknown feeling shot through her body which humans would have called fear.

After a second of debating whether to wake Sarah up or just leave the house hoping the find him was answered when the sound of flowing water filled the otherwise silent house, cocking her head to the side she left his room and made her way towards the bathroom. Ignoring the fact that the door was closed she tossed it open before walking, John's presence was found straight away looking at her like she was crazy from the glass shower door, now that she had found him safe she was aware that he was trying to shield his nakedness from her the best he could. Something she didn't understand, the naked form of both male and female was part of her integrated system so it was something she hadn't seen before.

"Get out." He hissed at her opening the shower door slightly and sticking his head out while keeping everything covered up, there was no way that his body was reaction to her standing there in her underwear and there was absolutely no way she'd find out, he could just imagine that conversation not to mention what would happen if his mum found out. After staring at him for a few more seconds to make sure he was going to be safe and wondering just what had caused this reaction Cameron turned and left the bathroom leaving the door open behind her. Glaring at the spot that she had just been in before stepping back into the show John wiped the wet hair off of his forehead and slide the glass door back to its position against the wall, turning to face the dial that the shower was connected to he turned into anti-clockwise turning the once hot water ice cold for a few seconds before he stepped out.

"I apologise if I made you uncomfortable," Cameron's voice rang out in the dark hallway as soon as she left the bathroom in only a towel, partially having expected to see her there he didn't jump this time but that wasn't to say he was in a better mood; ignoring her he walked across the hall and into his room closing the door behind him. It didn't take him long to pull fresh clothes and underwear from the drawers on the far side of the room, changing into the shorts he had pulled out he returned to his former position on the edge of his bed; the two tablets and glass of water sat next to his bed, debating whether to take them and fall into a forced sleep he picked the glass up and crushed them under the weight of it.

His laptop was his next target flicking it open he waited for it to power up, fingers poised above the keyboard the light from the screen lit up for his face as he struggled to decide just what he was going to do. Eventually loading an internet window up he wasted no time in typing in 'Skynet' before hitting search. Rolling his eyes at the fact that there were no results on the search he didn't know whether to be happy or angry, it mightn't have been created yet but there should have been something there if the building work as due to start soon. His hand ended up back in his hair a habit that he'd picked up years earlier and been unable to shake off, pulling it back wet he wiped it across his sheets before closing the top of the laptop and staring vacantly at the wall, rolling his eyes once more when there was a knocking sound from the other side of his door he placed the laptop on the floor and crawled back to the top of his bed leaving his quilt off of him.

"Hey, you awake?" Sarah's voice echoed slightly in his near empty room, she knew he wasn't sleeping unable to do so herself she had listened to him in the shower but Cameron followed him in for some reason she only knew. The girl was beautiful she knew that but she also knew John was more than aware of the dangers Terminator's poised and trusted him to make sure he stayed distant enough from her if she would need to make the same sacrifice one made years before saving him; in the back of her mind however she heard the young boy's voice begging him not to leave and that everything would be ok. Until recently he had seen the previous cybernetic organism as a father figure he never had, he was older now and smarter but there was part of her that wondered how he would see this one after a prolonged amount of time around her. Was there not another model her future son could have sent back? One older, uglier, distinctly more male? "I'm going to need you to stay in again today." She told him placing her hand on his shoulder and hearing him sigh in irritation.

"Why?"he asked rolling over to look at her, staring back at her Sarah resisted the urge to copy him and sigh in irritation; they'd gone over this that morning. "She said that none of them would find us here, they don't know that we are here." Sitting up now he stared at his mum more annoyed with her then he had been for a long time, the small section of Sarah's brain that wasn't constantly trying to keep him safe knew where his annoyance of being kept in came from; he was a fifteen year old teenage male who was being locked in his own home after years of running from place to place.

"The result would be the same if they found you," an emotionless voice said from the doorway, turning his attention to the new comer John bent his head around his mum slightly to see Cameron standing in the doorway. "If they found you they would try to terminate you. That would become their new mission." She continued walking further into his room before standing in front of Sarah and John, while his mum studiously ignored her presence even as she took in the words; however John made the mistake of looking up at her and was caught in her unnatural innocent brown eyes. "That is why you must stay inside until we have new names."

Pleased on some level that Cameron agreed with her that John was best suited to staying in the house until they got new identities Sarah stood and left the room not before throwing a look backwards seeing her son's protection still standing next to his bed. Eyes darting from his mum to Cameron looking down at him John was slightly freaked out, no one and stared so intently at him before part from the machines that came to kill him; rolling onto his back he looked at the ceiling hoping that this would give her the clue to leave.

"I apologised if I made you uncomfortable earlier," she said lowering herself to the floor and waiting for his reaction, for a few seconds John remained silent continuing to stare at the ceiling of his room reminding Cameron just how different this John was to the one she knew from the future; blinking when he didn't answer her she wondered if he was suffering from a hearing problem and would make a point to bring it up with Sarah in the morning, such a injury could cost him his life at a later point.

"It's ok." Came his whispered reply as she got to his door, if it weren't for her being a Terminator he doubted she would have heard him, but the fact that she stopped for a second before continuing on her way to either her room or back downstairs told him she had.


	2. Chapter 2

Standing in the kitchen waiting for John to get up Sarah merely rolled her eyes when Cameron was the first to enter, she knew her son was more than aware about the death of destruction Terminators brought; he had after all witnessed one of them try to kill him when he was younger and another save his life, looking at what could pass for a teenage female it seemed that history was repeating itself. The thing that was worrying her was John's ability to bound with them, all to clearly did she remember him beg and then order the T-800 to stay with him, it had been an all to repeating source of her nightmares; the T-800 wrapping his metal hand around his neck before dragging him into the lava as well.

"John still in bed?" she asked almost as emotionlessly as the machine in front of her, the blank stare that met her was something which never bothered the woman who had to protect her unborn child at one point; she could tell that behind her innocent brown eyes there was nothing but a calculation computer chip of a brain, something she hoped her son would be able to remember no matter how long Cameron was around them.

"I did not spend the night in bed with John, so I'm unsure if he is still there." Cameron replied tilting her head to the side slightly, the menacing look Sarah gave her for even insinuation she might have spent the night with John confused her. Surely if she were meant to protect him then the longer she spent around John the better it would be for his chances of survival, turning her back on Cameron Sarah looked back out of the window staring at the near empty street in front of the house they had taken, she would lie if asked; her blood had started to boil when the machine gave her answer, it wasn't the fact that she hadn't spent the night with for that she was grateful; but almost the way that it was put over she would sooner or later.

She only wanted John to get up so she could tell him that he had to stay in the house while she came up with a plan to get them new idea's and to also make sure that nobody and nothing was after them. The pair stayed in silence that could have been classed as uncomfortable had it been two humans there, the telltale sounds of heavy footsteps came from the slightly carpeted hall leading to the bedrooms; two sets of eyes turned to the doorway watching a sluggish John walk through rubbing his face, stifling a yawn he looked up at the two women; or rather one woman and one cyborg staring at him. Almost jumping out his skin at the expectant looks he got in reply from both of them.

"I need to stay in the house today," Sarah said looking at him knowing full well that he wasn't going to be happy about it, "We talked about this last night," she quickly continued stopping him before he could even start a counter reply. "I can't risk them finding you. You're staying here today." Storming further into the kitchen he dropped himself into the seat opposite Cameron, who smiled at him slightly when he looked up at her, turning away and looking into the living room where his mum had gone picking up a small few items before returning. "I'm going to check if anyone knows about planning work for Skynet to start, I'm taking her with me." She added indicating to Cameron who had turned to look at Sarah before copying John's eye roll on hers went unnoticed. "We won't be gone long." She said quieter before walking over to her son and placing a kiss on his cheek and was met with another roll of his eyes.

"With shall return with quickly John Connor." Cameron added before dropping down and placing a kiss on his other cheek before leaving the kitchen, having froze when she did so John slowly turned to look at his mum eyes wide at what Cameron just did, turning red from annoyance Sarah's expression was more murderous then John's; spinning on her heel she followed Cameron out of the house leaving him sitting there not all that sure what just happened. Drumming his fingers on the table for a few seconds John stared at the spot where his mum and Terminator protector had just bee, after that he was now slightly happier he wasn't going with them; the rational part of his brain told him that she had merely copied his mum's action thinking it a sign of departure, he doubted she'd see it that way.

Pushing the chair out from under him he turned and started walking towards the living room and threw himself onto the couch, boredom in all of his movements he grabbed hold of the remote control and started flicking through the channels; slightly shocked that there was a larger number then he had been used to with a cable t.v living with Charlie eight years ago. Stopping on a movie called 'Star Wars' he allowed himself to stretch out on the couch only half paying attention to the film on screen, the special effects that were used were the only good thing in his opinion; taking a few minutes to try and understand the story behind what was going on and failing he sat up with a groan. 'Stay in the house John. It's too dangerous John. You might be killed John.' He mimicked his mum's voice in his head before jumping up from the couch and making his way to the door.

--

"Why did John send you back?" Sarah asked walking alongside Cameron who hadn't taken her eyes from the path directly, to her it had been a simple question one that made perfect sense but the look that her son's protector gave her was nothing but confusion.

"I was the most logical choice," she replied thinking it made sense to everyone as it did to her, John had said he needed protecting in the past and she was one of the few Terminator's they had programmed to help them; not only that but she was also one of the more advanced models. She'd been able to show a certain degree of emotion when she needed to, however this had only been during the first two days when she met John, her CPU had allowed her to appear friendly as well as flirting hoping he'd want to know her and talk; however this John Connor was a product of his environment and extremely distrusting about people he didn't know. In the future he would become more trusting of people and of her.

"I know he needs protecting, I've been doing that for years," she spat back at the cyborg with venom, if a human had been met with the hostility of the response there would have been one of two reactions; for them to step back and shield themselves from an nonexistent attack or to fire their own comment in anger. "Why you, the last time John sent one back to save him it was an older model. One that wasn't female, or even remotely attractive to a teenage boy." She added the final sentence to make sure Cameron wouldn't get confused with her question; she was in no mood to try and tell a machine just how her looks could affect a male who was at one of the most hormonal times of his life, especially if she walked around the house in her underwear.

Not stopping her stride making sure she kept her pace slow as Sarah spoke, Cameron's eyes flashed with her mission and was unable to see what was wrong with her being there even after it had just been told to her, she still struggled to understand the basis behind the question but came up with the only response she could.

"John told me a story," she spoke a softer tone then her normal emotionless one, something that Sarah caught on to but was in no mood to listen to a story when she had just asked a question. "When John sent the last Terminator out to protect him he was younger and was in foster homes; the thing he desired more than anything at that point in time was a father figure. Someone that wouldn't leave him." both cyborg and parent had stopped in their tracks and were now facing each other, knowing what happened with the T-800 Sarah didn't know why John had told Cameron this before sending her back. "When it was time for it to be destroyed he cried, begged and the ordered him not to leave."

"Why would John tell you that?" Sarah asked the only question that could be asked to that statement, at first she didn't think Cameron was going to reply to her as she suddenly fell silent and turned to carry on in the direction that they had been going.

"So I would know he wouldn't want me to leave either." Came the reply that she didn't want to hear, almost anything other than that last statement would have been better for her to have been told. Taking a quick glance at Cameron who hadn't turned back to look at her after giving the answer Sarah let out a low long sigh hoping that the John who sent her back was wrong and her John wouldn't be effected if anything happened to his machine protector. Her brain was telling her that John would be fine, over the years since the last Terminator she had told him all about the horrors they would bring and how it's his destiny to lead mankind to stop them; but there was a truth she wasn't ready to face in Cameron's words. The knowledge that she was right in John's reaction to the last Terminator leaving him, with them was born the fear of the possibility he'd become as attached to this newer model.

--

Staring in wonder at the size of the mall in front of him and how in all his life he'd only seen something like this a small number of times, not wanting his reaction to become odd to the other people who were walking in and out of the mall like it was nothing unusual and knowing it shouldn't have been he forced the smile off of his face. Following a teenager his age inside, the smile that he tried so hard to wipe off of his face threatened to appear when he stepped inside making him look slightly insane; added to his obvious lack of the mall he struggled to get anywhere and was often heading in and out of each and every store.

Finding a store that he'd know John walked into the computer store in a slightly calmer way then he had some of the other's, taking a quick at the laptops and desktop computers that were there he compared them to his own and was shocked at the difference in quality the one's the shop had. Stopping in front of one of the computers no knowing it was hooked up to a bigger monitor behind him, John started flicking through the menu's unaware of the people that were watching him like he was an idiot for not knowing what he was doing. Flicking his eyes up and confused by the people staring at him as well as the a store assistant making her way over John took a nervous step back knocking into someone behind him, spinning around and coming face to face with a security guard glaring down at him blankly John quickly looked away.

"Sorry," he muttered stepping around him and making for the door, watching him leave the security guard's eyes took on a faint red glint. 'Sorry – voice match John Connor 98, abandon current primary mission. Terminate John Connor.' The rest of his body turned in a more robotic way as his new mission was uploaded into every part of his electronic brain, the store assistant that was on her way over to help John found herself now in the path of the Terminator and was subsequently thrown out of the way. Hearing the screams and sound of glass shattering John turned to look over his shoulder only for his eyes to widen in fear seeing the guard coming at him in only the way something that wasn't human could, fear filling his body as well as his mum's words he turned back and started to run.

Seeing his target fleeing the Terminator started his own run however the clothes he was wearing made it hard for his legs to gain the speed needed to catch John. Unable to take the risk of looking back over his shoulder to see just how far behind his would be killer was John ran down the escalator pushing past the other people needing to get back to the ground floor, rushing past a sheet of glass behind a large plant he heard the tell tale sound of a gunshot and pulled his head back as he lowered his body to the floor before straightening himself out again when he was away from it.

Seeing the automatic door ten feet in front of him John tried to force that last piece of speed from his body all the while knowing the screaming match he'd be in for from his mum if he got out of this alive. That fact seemed less likely as he felt someone grab the back of his neck and launch him through the glass of the still closed doors, hitting the floor hard outside the mall and welcomed with the screams of the confused and panicked public John pushed himself back to his feet aware of the glass digging into his hands and the droplets of blood falling from his face.

Hearing the crunching footsteps signalling his death he start to run once again albeit at a slower pace, there was nothing like being thrown through a glass door onto the cold hard concrete outside to slow someone down, at more of a limping jog he didn't make it ten feet before he was once again caught this time however he wasn't knocked through the pair but grabbed by the back of the neck and turned slowly and painfully to see his attacker. Fear might have filled his body when he first saw the Terminator coming for him but now it was disgust, plain and simple.

"John Connor, you have been targeted for termination." The machine told him like he was making conversation with an old friend, whatever it thought was going to happen; it wasn't being spat on by his target.

"Fuck you, you stupid machine." John growled out looking at its red eyes in both disgust and hatred, frowning back at him it merely increased the pressure around John's neck as a slow vicious smile formed on its face.


	3. Chapter 3

Trying to focus on the sinister red eyes peering into his own John found that his vision swam unable for him to focus on anything, feeling the coltan hand tighten further around his windpipe he let out a mix between a gasp of air and a cough. Sensing his target's increased distress the T-888 couldn't stop the smile that formed on his face, his mission had merely been to ensure the Turk was delivered to the right people at the right at, and had been following the creator of the computer before John knocked into him; however killing the leader of the human resistance took priority over anything else he needed to do. Eyes glazing over and starting to roll into the back of his head John knew that there was no one coming to save him, not his mum and not his cyborg protector from the future, his realization set something primal off in his brain. Like a wounded animal he started to thrash in the machine's grip trying to loosen it enough for him to get free, however the hand continued to close on his windpipe.

"Drop the boy, and turn around." a magnified voice called from behind the would be killer machine, turning his head slightly to look over his shoulder the Terminator could see the number of polis cars congregating behind him as well as the officers aiming their guns at him. In his need to kill John Connor his program hadn't informed him that his tactics would draw a crowd, turning back to the male in his hand now turning purple he paid no attention to them and continued to choke the life out of John. "DROP THE BOY OR WE'LL OPEN FIRE!" the officer screamed aiming his gun at the Terminator's head as his fellow officers took aim at either his head or back, waiting for a few seconds to see what would happen he narrowed his eyes at the security uniform clad male. "Fire." The sounds of gun fire filled the air as the officers determinedly unloaded their guns into him, while the barrage couldn't cause any damage to him hitting him in the back the force of the bullets casued the Terminator to drop John to the floor.

Gasping for breath in between dry retching on the floor John turned to look at the thing that tried to kill him making a move to get hold of him once again while taking the bullets, seeing that he wasn't going to go down the louder bang of a shotgun rang through the parking lot before the scattering pellet caught the Terminator in the back of his knee, seeing him stumble slightly the gun totting officer unloaded three more bullets until the machine dropped to the floor. Rolling along the floor and out of the reach of the machine that wanted knowing more than his death, John struggled to his feet, his whole body shaking, turning away from the for the minute debilitated killing machine he started his walk away from the mall once again not able to move at anywhere near a normal walking pace.

"Son, we need to get you to a hospital and then in for questioning." The officer that ordered the Terminator to drop him called out now in a softer friendlier tone, freezing mid-step he weighed the words that had just been spoken, sure his throat was killing him and he could just about breathe but there was no way he could go to a police station to give information on himself; even if he was meant to have died eight years ago.

"That's not going to stop him," he replied his voice raw from his throat muscles nearly been destroyed, the police officer just about caught the statement and cocked his head to the side not sure he'd heard correctly before turning to look at the downed male. Rubbing his throat and quickly pulling his hand away due to the tenderness of the skin there, John knew he couldn't stop or even turn around to see if the Terminator was getting back up, not even getting out of the parking lot when an all too familiar 4 x 4 screeched in and stopped inches in front of him, he moved towards it.

Having seen the number of police cars speeding past them during their walk home both Sarah and Cameron had been confused to what would need all that attention, they received their answer upon walking past a electronic store showing breaking news. The fear that Sarah felt seeing her son on t.v being held by his throat and maybe off the floor by what she knew to be a Terminator was something she hadn't felt for a long time, even hearing the reports about the shooting at his school back in 1999 hadn't worried her this much. It seemed however she wasn't the only one that was worried, taking a couple of seconds to look at what was happening Cameron had sprinted down the road at an unnatural pace leaving Sarah to chase after her hoping she'd be able to save her son, loosing slight of the female cyborg worried her in a different way knowing she was no match for a Terminator in a fist fight; however her worries had been unfounded when she came back in the car.

Nearly throwing themselves out of the car parent and machine protector ran over to John making sure he wasn't going to collapse on the floor any time soon, relief filled Sarah as well as anger and worry things that could be dealt with later; Cameron on the other hand was running scans over his body as she placed her hand on his back looking like she was helping him towards the car.

"Your trachea has suffered severe bruising, for optimal healing you should only take when it is vital, as well as having ointment or ice rubbing onto the area." She told him choosing to sit in the back of the car next to John and allowing Sarah to take the driver's seat, taking a glance at the pair of them in the back of the car and how John's slumped form was leaning on Cameron slightly brought the words the girl told her; pulling out of the parking lot she looked out of the window watching as the previously downed Terminator was getting back to his feet. Having no desire to keep her son anywhere near it she sped out flicking stones and pieces of gravel in all directions, unsure about what just happened and why the teenage male had fled with help like that the senior officer turned back around to order his men to put the body in one of their cars before taking it to the morgue. That plan went out of the window when he came face to face with the Terminator glaring down at him, before he could do or say anything a fist slammed into his face dropping him to the floor dead instantly.

In the car no one spoke, given the fact that John seemed to be in far too much pain to try and talk and the only noise he was making was his ragged breathing or coughing and Sarah had no desire to talk to the machine sitting with him considering what she had discovered. Parking the car outside their house she climbed out of the car and made her way inside not offering the remaining pair a backward glance, letting out a groan as he watched his mum walk into the house John shuffled along the seat before exiting the car himself and started walking towards the house before turning back to look at Cameron wondering where she was. He nearly jumped out of his skin seeing her directly behind him, tilting her head to the side in that adorable puppy like way as she stared into his eyes.

"I will collect the ice and ointment," she informed him before walking around and towards the house only to stop at the door, he'd seen her do this before; the night they arrived in 2007 she had waited by the door for him to enter the house first scanning the outside before joining them. Walking into the kitchen and dropping himself down onto a wooden chair he kept his eyes off of his mum who was staring out of the window no doubt figuring out just how'd she start this conversation, watching Cameron walk in stopping at the freezer and pulling a ice bag out before walking over to the medicine cabinet he let his forehead drop to the table.

"Just what do you think you were doing?" she mum asked turning around to see the position he was in, her anger that he had ignored her and almost got himself killed outweighed her worry and sympathy about his wounds. "You know how important you are, how important it is that you stay safe and then you run off and do this. Kyle came back to save you and to make sure that you were born, this is how you repay him dying to make sure you lived." At the end statement John's head snapped up as he glared at his mum, the sudden movement caused Cameron who was hovering behind him to stop as she was half bent down cream in her hands. The staring contest lasted for a minute before Sarah turned and walked out of the kitchen anger in all of her movements.

Seeing that he wasn't going to move anytime soon the less than human female opened up the ice bag and took a single cube out before holding it in her hands, she had expected John to take the ice and cream himself but it seemed that he was going to let her do what was needed. Slowly she placed the ice cube of the back of his now horribly purple and dark blue neck watching him flinch at the sudden contact and hiss from the coldness hitting his strained and still raw flesh, continuing to run the ice cube over his neck trying to cool the flesh down she paused when she couldn't reach around to the front of his throat. Taking what was left of the half melted cube John ran it over the front half of his neck trying to force his expression to relax.

Unsure why he was allowing her to do this he was about to tell her that he could put the cream on his neck when he felt her start to rub it in, he was pretty sure that this had nothing to do with protecting him but he knew that he wouldn't be able to rub do it as softly as she was. Dropping his head slightly so he was looking down at the table he tried and failed and keeping back the low moan that came from him.

"Am I hurting you?" she asked stopping, worried that she had casued further damage to his neck then the T-888 had.

"No." He muttered in reply his voice still coming out rougher than normal, standing behind him Cameron put more of the cream onto her hands before rubbing it back into his neck unaware that John had closed his eyes allowing himself to enjoy his guilty pleasure; the voice that had screamed at him she was a machine the night before was nothing more than a quiet voice struggling to be heard. Biting down on his tongue and inside of his cheek alternatively to keep himself from groaning out loud again.

"The front of your throat requires to have cream put on it to ensure complete healing." She told him having finished with the back of his neck, instead of being a sickly purple mixed with dark blue, it now had a layer of white cream covering it seeping into his skin. Swallowing John turned around in his seat to face her, at first Cameron merely looked back down at him and turned her attention to the tube of cream on the table next to her; like with the ice cube she had done the back of his neck because it would have been difficult for him to do so, and so she thought he would have wanted to rub the cream onto the front of his throat like he had done with the ice.

Lifting his head up keeping his eyes closed John made no move to take the cream from the table, eyes shooting towards the cream and then back to him Cameron picked in back up before lowering herself so she was sat on her haunches in-between his legs. She had helped him do things like this in the future if he were injured, but that was because even then she was his protector even if the other resistance fighters didn't trust her with their hero and general. Squeezing the cream into one palm Cameron dipped two fingers into it before carefully rubbing it across the front of his throat and were the worst of the damage had been done, it was clear to her that he had struggled somewhat in the Terminator's grip and sections of his skin had been torn and there was a small gathering of blood in sections.

Standing in the doorway of the kitchen and hallway to the living room Sarah watched as Cameron continued to put the cream on John, looking concerned at the way her son seemed at ease with allowing her to look after him worried her, she had a hard time standing in the same room as the machine for long and yet there was having her look after him possibly not aware that if she could or wanted to Cameron had the perfect chance to kill him.

"Is he going to be ok?" she asked not all that surprised when John jumped and turned his attention away from the two females while Cameron turned and looked at her like she knew they were being watching the whole time. Standing up from the chair he shot Cameron a quick look before turning and heading in the direction opposite his mum no bothering to give her another look.

"He will be in pain for a number of days, and will need to have the cream reapplied." She answered looking at Sarah, unlike John she saw nothing wrong with Sarah having been there; after all she had only helped him. However uncertain Sarah was about Cameron's help the cyborg's mission was to keep John Connor safe, in the future Sarah hadn't been programmed into that at all. "If the T-888 is aware of John being here then he will start to look for his target, this location is no longer safe." She added before walking in the same direction John had only she went into the room which had been given to her.

Sighing Sarah followed John to make sure he was ok and she was determined to drill it into his head about how important it was that he stay safe, she had thought that after all these years she had got through to him but this just showed she hadn't. Not bothering to knock on his door she watched as he lay on his bed struggling to get comfortable as he tried to pass the time knowing full well the chances of him being allowed out of the house had just gone from slim to never again.

"John I know you're angry, and that you hate being locked in the house but today just showed that there are Terminators out there ready to kill you the second they figure out who you are. You remember when the T-1000 came through to kill you when you were in foster care and you survived that, but I remember when they tried to kill you when you were still in my womb." Sarah begged him to understand just why she was the way she was with him.

"I wish they had!" he shot back at her John's voice cracking with anger and the pain of using his throat muscles, "I wish they had killed me, you keep going on about how I have this great destiny and that I'm meant to lead the resistance and humans against Skynet but I don't want it. I don't want to be 'The John Connor' 'Saviour of mankind', 'Humanity's last hope.' So you can find someone else to take responsibility, let them run for their lives for as long as they can remember, scared of an enemy that has no face. Have someone else pick up the pieces after Judgement day." His outburst scared Sarah because of the passion as well as anger that was in his voice, she that known he hated the fact they were always on the move and running away but not the fact he wished the Terminator had killed him before he was born.

Moving from his side at his bed Sarah felt his room feeling more distant from her son then she had for a long time, she was meant to be his protector the one that kept him a safe and knew everything about him, but after that she wondered just how much she knew of _John_ and not the man she knew he had to become to save everyone. Walking down the hall she stopped outside of _its_ room and briefly debated the satisfaction she'd feel going in there and telling Cameron that this was all her fault, as much as she might like hurling abuse at the female Terminator it wouldn't change anything, knowing that she continued her walk away from the bedrooms.

Laying on his bed John thought about the thing's he'd just shouted at his mum, sure they had been true but it probably wasn't the best way to tell her; having turned his back to his door once his mum felt he rolled over again to face it and nearly fell out of the bed seeing Cameron standing there looking at him as curious as a child would.

"You're angry," she said and he had to fight back the urge to toss abuse at her for making a stupid comment like that, "You might not want to be John Connor but the world needs you to be." She added moving further into his room and sitting on the edge of his best turning to face him. "No one else would be able to take the name of John Connor, after Skynet launched its attack on the world a number of people could have come forward to start the resistance but only you did. You are needed to be John Connor." Listening to Cameron talk to him and tell him the same thing his mum had but just in a different way stunned him slightly, even when the T-800 came back to save him when he spoke of John Connor he acted like it was his destiny and he was a natural leader. That wasn't the case at all; Cameron had just told him he became the man he would be because no one else had the guts to step up after the Skynet attack. "In the future you will risk your life to save him in reckless acts of heroism, things that will almost cost you your life. One of those acts was saving me when the other resistance fighters wanted me destroyed and you programmed me to help you. Not the other fighters but you, and you alone. Every battle you go in, I'll be there by your side."

"You told me that in the future, I have lots of friends is that true?" John asked sitting up and turning his body to face her, copying his movements Cameron folded her legs under her as she face him head on.

"No." She answered seeing the disappointment straight away, "The resistance fighters might trust you with their lives and sacrifice themselves for you, but they do not meet the definition of the word friend. You will isolate yourself from everyone and only Kyle Reese will make an effort to be friends with you." She could tell that wasn't the answer he wanted to hear from her, but after lying to get close to him she didn't want to have to lie again.

"Hmm figures," he muttered before flopping back down to the bed, "I one friend I have turns out to be my dad and I send him back to get killed." Closing his eyes at the irony of it all he felt the weight on his bed shift as Cameron laid down next to him apparently not finished with the conversation.

"A friend is a person who is attached to another by feelings of affection, someone you know and trust. A person whom one is allied in a struggle of cause." She said giving off a perfect definition of the word friend, if it wasn't for the first part she had said about being attached to them by feelings or someone you could trust John wouldn't have been surprised there were things about friendship she didn't know, but she shocked him. "I will be your friend." She added at the end in a quieter softer voice, figuring she was only subjecting herself to be his friend because they needed to fight Skynet didn't seem to matter to him. A faint smile formed on his face as he lay on his bed with Cameron.


	4. Chapter 4

A/n: I know i need to work on other stories but i can't help but right this one. And did anyone else hear about that deleted scene showing cameron crying and asking future john not to send her back. I think it was meant to be put in queens gamibit.

After John's outburst Sarah was worried just what her son would do if anything, she had known how much he resented the density that he had to fulfil, but saying that he wished the Terminator's had killed him that statement terrified her. Walking out of the house and heading back towards the car she needed to make sure there was no way the Terminator could have followed them, that as well as knowing if she tried to talk to her so again the chances are it would turn into another argument. His leaving the house and almost having himself killed proved to her that everything she had done, Kyle had done and to an extent the T-800 meant nothing to do. Why else would be go out of the house knowing full well that there was still a threat out there, a very real, very dangerous threat to his life that would mean extinction for the human race if it were to succeed in its mission.

Her driving speed was a lot more relaxed now that she wasn't trying to escape with her son and other Terminator from the previously shot one as it got up from the floor glaring in their direction. Thankfully the police and news crews that had arrived to watch as the supposedly security guard chocked the life from her son, stopping in the parking lot further in then what Cameron had in her urgency to protect John and not fail her own mission. Climbing out of the far Sarah walked around the parking lot trying to look as calm as she could, while having senses heightened to a level that only someone in the army or constantly looking over their shoulder for an enemy could, however it seemed that everything was gone, even the small pieces of skin that the Terminator lost being shot weren't on the floor.

Turning around to walk back towards her car Sarah's heart stopped, standing on the opposite side of the road stood the Terminator looking back emotionlessly, frozen to the spot for more than what she should have been Sarah started to spring back to her car before throwing herself in. She couldn't believe that it had tricked her expecting someone to come back, John maybe? Fumbling with the keys in her hand as the killer machine started to cross the road her pupils widened in fear dropping the keys to the floor, seconds before it could reach the car Sarah managed to grab hold of the car keys and force them into the ignition; hearing the engine roar to life she tore out of the parking lot feeling the vehicle shake as the Terminator tried to grab hold of it casuing damage to the outside.

Once again driving like a maniac down the empty streets Sarah kept her eyes glued to the rear view mirror, only this time the Terminator gave chase. It had seen and scanned her face during her rescue of John and now it knew she would be able to lead it to him. Seeing it not fading into the distance as she forced more and more speed out of the car scared her, if she couldn't lose it then she couldn't go back to the house in case it found out; finally however the Terminator started to find itself unable to keep up with the car, as Sarah was in risk of burning out the engine forcing speed out of it that it just couldn't give. The downside of her loosing it was how long it had taken and now how short the distance was to the house had become, surely with everything they could do it could pick up the rubber marks on the road leading it straight to them.

Leaving the car doors open and rushing into the house only to find it silent almost caused her heart to stop in her chest.

"John?" she called out a hint of uncertainty filling her voice, after a few seconds that seemed to drag like hours her son appeared at the entrance of the kitchen his face no longer contorted in anger like it had been, then there standing behind him was Cameron; her innocence reminded Sarah that of a puppy needing someone there for her all the time and happily following John around like he was her favourite person and master. Yet there was also a different side to her, when John was in danger the innocence and naivety left her replaced by a viciousness to protect him from anything that would cause him harm, tactically sharpener then the best navy seal and more loyal then a guard dog she would die to protect John, possibly the only thing that Sarah liked about her. "We have to go." She told them heart still racing her, "Now!" she shouted, ready to turn around and leave the house she was taken off guard by the look of fear on John's face and the one of protectiveness on Cameron's. Turning around her stomach dropped out seeing the Terminator standing there staring back at them before its gaze rested on John.

Rushing forward before it could have a chance to attack Cameron grabbed hold of it by its jacket ready to shove it through the wall, however not for the first time her tiny frame worked against her and the grip was reversed with the larger Terminator grabbing her by the waist and throwing her through the wall before following to continue his attack. Seeing this happen John shot out of the house followed closely by Sarah, but their destinations were different; going straight to the car ready to leave with her son and let the two machines have a death match in her home she was stunned to see John run over to the swing that was in the garden.

"John, we have to leave." She shouted at him, she didn't know what he was doing but knew it couldn't be any good for his safety seeing him pick up a metal pipe from the uncut grass and turn back to the house. "JOHN!" she screamed when he re-entered the house without so much as a look at her, kicking the car door open she rushed in after her only son ready to drag him out if she had to.

Seeing the T-888 sitting on Cameron's stomach and punching her repeatedly in the face rage and a need to protect filled John, pulling the metal bar back like it was a baseball bat he swung forward hitting the enemy Terminator in the back of the head with enough force that could have killed a human. Unluckily for him this wasn't a human and the clang of metal hitting metal rang throughout the house, feeling the vibrations of the impact flow through the bar and into his arms John forced them to stay steady at the T-888 stood up and turned around staring at him. Setting his feet John took a second swing at the machine only for it to grab hold of the metal bar inches before it made contact with his face.

Cocking its hips the T-888 swung the metal bar behind him and by extension John, the force of the throw sent him back and ribs first through a large portion of the plaster board destroying it and leaving John on his stomach covered in pieces of dust and plaster all over him. Coughing slightly he looked up to see the Terminator coming at him for a fourth time that day, on his hands and knees he was prepared to try and tackle the machine backwards hoping momentum would allow him to move the stronger heavier entity. However he never had the chance, back on her feet and with surprise on her side Cameron grabbed hold of the T-888's head and slammed it into one of the fully concrete walls the house had before throwing it across the room. Grabbing the metal bar John had used to try and save her she landed a hit with at the very least ten times for strength John had taking a chunk of the skin covering the silver coltan face off.

Not wasting any time she twisted the Terminator's head at an angle that should have shattered its neck before driving the bar through the base of its skull watching as the eyes shone red for a split second before dying. Turning around she saw John now standing on his feet eyebrows raised looking at her in shook and wonder.

"Thank you." Cameron said grabbing hold of his hand and dragging him out of the house and past Sarah who had stood in the doorway unable to do anything and having no weapon to help, not lasting in her daze for too long she followed the machine and her son outside spinning John around and slapping him across the face.

"How stupid can you be?" she yelled stunning the pair, having never been hit by his mum before John was shocked by what she had just done while Cameron stood there trying to calculate if Sarah Connor had become a threat. "How could you just run in there risking you life to save that?" she added indicating to his protector whose eyes flashed briefly with something akin to pain at being objectified as that, she had saved John's and Sarah's lives a number of times in the three days she had known them and only John treated her as anything more than a machine at times.

Not waiting for a answer from her son she climbed into the car and watched as they copied her both taking the back seat, indignant at being hit John refused to look forwards instead keeping his gaze out of the window and towards the house with the hopefully destroyed Terminator inside. The tension between son and mum grew in the car with each house passed, sitting in the back seat once again not fully understanding the problem Cameron stared at the back of Sarah's head, in the future any one human would try and save another being attacked by a Terminator and on a number of times both she and John and saved each other.

"John and I have decided to explore a friendship," she said unknowingly causing the tension to grow in the car as Sarah glared back at them, "Friends try to protect and save each other." The innocence that she spoke with was the same thing that flared John's need to help her when he saw the T-888 pounding in her face.

"What do you know of friendship, you a machine." Sarah spat back not taking her eyes off of Cameron who gave her the mixed look at shook and pain that she had on her face when she was told to go to hell back in 1999. Taking the chance to look at her son she was left breathless by the expression on his face, his disappointment, frustration, resentment and at times anger had all been put on her because he couldn't have a normal life; her moulding of him into what he needed to be in the future left her son as little more than a social misfit and it had all be thrown at her. But the look on his face at that moment was impossible to place, and that scared her.

Turning back to look out onto the road ahead of her not really sure where she was taking them, the expression he wore suddenly clicked, the look he gave her was the same one that Kyle Resse had often worn. It was the look of someone who was dead inside, only she knew that he wasn't; his father while she had been inexplicably attracted to him was for lack of a better term damaged. Perhaps that was the reason she found herself drawn to the brooding solider from the future, as immature as it was the darkness of his past, technically her future was what took her. That was one of the main things he had taken from Kyle, the broodiness; and with it the lack of care for rules he broke while at school, and what she had almost sickeningly heard school girls call his bad-boy side.

Now having his throat and back hurting him John slouched down in the car seat winching slightly, watching the move intently; she was aware of his throat injury having brought the extent of it up herself and understanding that shouting at his mum wouldn't have help it either. If you add that to him being tossed through a wall she had no doubt about the pain he was in, something she considered Sarah's misplaced anger and rage blinded her to. Unsure if she should do anything to try and ease his discomfort she watched as John straightened himself out the pain of his body prevent him from being comfortable sitting in the car.

Grateful he wasn't wearing a seatbelt John let his body drop to the side narrowly missing hitting Cameron as he pulled his legs up and tucked them under his body, having never seen someone do this before the cyborg look as shocked and uncomfortable as she could have; she had seen people sleep and curl around each other but not what he had done. She herself on the odd occasion when things had got to him too much had been asked by John in the future to spend the night with him, the first time that had happened her CPU had misunderstood what he was asking and tried to have sex with him, his reaction had been worrying as well as funny.

Sitting perfectly still, her eyes flashed forwards, down to John and forward again to see if Sarah had spotted him, however driving the car hoping to find another house that would be empty for them to stay in Sarah remained oblivious to anything in the back of the car and after the look her son gave her didn't seem ready to turn around and look back again. If his laying on the back seat confused her then his next move would have caused Cameron to jump had she been human, snake like in his movements John's head and shoulder lifted up before dropping down onto her lap, tilting her head to the side of the suddenness of it she would have asked him what was happening had he been awake. However for the time being he was sleeping, his face inches away from the apex of her thighs something that turned her checks slightly red for reasons she didn't know.

"We're going to Enrique's," she called to her son thinking he was still looking out of the car window, not getting an answer Sarah sighed in annoyance knowing how childlike John could be when things didn't go how he wanted them to. "John." She said turning around only to have to eyes widen to a near comical amount, staring back at her wide eyed like always Cameron made a point to not look down at John who hadn't woken even with his mum's call. "What are you doing?" she hissed at the cyborg, she never wanted to see her son's face that far up Cameron's thighs the sheer thought made her want to be sick. "JOHN!" she screamed casuing him to jolt awake his body rocketing up and off of Cameron, "We're going to Enrique's." She repeated watching as her son had the grace to take his seat again looking anywhere but at Cameron or his mum.

Pulling the damaged car outside the house she last knew Enrique to live at Sarah stepped out followed by John and then Cameron, not looking back at his protector John kept his eyes forward thoroughly embarrassed by where he had woken up, he remembered dropping onto the back seat trying to get more comfortable but not squirming half of his body onto Cameron's lap. And no he wasn't thinking about how soft it was. You could ask him and he'd tell you that. Slowing his pace down allowing her to walk ahead of him John couldn't stop his arm from sliding down her own and upon seeing her quizzical look acted like he was merely swinging his arms as he walked.

"Enrique," Sarah smiled walking into his living room, the grey haired man couldn't help the smile that formed on his face seeing her, he had heard and seen the news reports saying she had died eight years ago along with John and the girl that was currently standing next to her son.

"I should have known you were alive," he greeted standing up to hug Sarah before turning his attention to John who was busy shuffling his feet like a child in front of a relative he hadn't seen before. "You haven't changed at all, how can you still look the same as the day you disappeared?" he asked stunned, John should have been in his early twenties by now but you could tell he hadn't even reached eighteen at the very least.

"It's a long story," Sarah answered not trusting Cameron to not give the truth away about what happened and what they did, "Enrique, we need new papers." She added getting straight to the point, the longer they stayed here the less chance they had of finding somewhere else to sleep that night. The look on her old friend's face however told her that something was wrong with her request from him.

"Sarah I would love to help you like I had in the past, but I'm no longer in the business." He replied looking down as he spoke, "I got out of that business five years ago, if you were around you'd know that." Turning around to look at John who appeared to be as put out by this fact as she was, nodding anyway Sarah turned and led the two of them from the house not seeing any reason to be there longer if he was going to be no help to them.

Leaning against the car and looking down John was trying to think of anything that they could do now as was his mum, they needed. Looking at the pair who weren't moving Cameron stepped forward and closer to John gaining his attention.

"You sent resistance fighters back, they should be able to help you get new names." She told him not aware of the disbelieving look she was getting off of Sarah behind her, her mission didn't concern her and she had no reason to please the older woman.

"You knew all this time and you didn't tell us," Sarah said anger growing in her voice, this was one of the reasons she didn't trust machines.

"You didn't ask." Came the instant reply, not waiting for a reply from the older woman much like she had the night they arrived in 2007 Cameron grabbed hold of John's arm and started to pull him along leaving Sarah to catch up herself. Being able to feel the daggers his mum was shooting his protection John tried his best to appear unfazed and not bothered that she had kept hold of him, for her part it didn't take Cameron long to show them were the resistance fighter would be.

"Do they know you?" John asked stepping forward so he was walking alongside Cameron making it seem less like she was pulling him along and more that she was merely holding his hand as if they were a couple as they walked. Entering a beat up apartment block she ignored his question at first as a dog started to bark at her making her look slightly worried, it confused him that she was a machine for the most part and yet she was able to appearing worried.

"They've seen me around before," she told him walking through the large open area of the ground floor before letting go of him and heading to the staircase almost hidden in the wall, turning to make sure his mum as still following them John walked up the stairs; he trusted the future sent machine to be able to protect him better after having seen what she did to the Terminator that arrived at their home. Stopping outside what seem to be a random door Cameron opened it before stopping to allow John and Sarah past her.

Seeing the bodies on the floor both John and Sarah rushed in checking to see if they were alive, however they found that all the people in the room were dead, flipping one onto their back Sarah picked their wrist up seeing a barcode tattoo.

"I've seen that before on Kyle, what is it?" she asked looking at Cameron, there was no way that they all had the same bizarre tattoo because they liked it, it looked odd and slightly creepy.

"All humans have one, they have them put on when they get sent to the concentration camps." She replied monotone looking around the room, "They appear to have hidden everything that had been gathered." She pointed out having half expected whatever she brought them here for to just be sitting in front of them when they turned up.

Looking away from the bodies John and Sarah started their search of the small room to see if any equipment might have been placed anywhere, four bare concrete walls was all that was visible to the naked eye nothing to make it seem like home. Turning to look at the front door thinking that it was a joke something caught John's eye, in one part of the room where the wall went in was a hang in there kitty poster; he almost laughed at the irony of it, having thought resistance fighters would have had no tact then something so obvious. Turning to look at Cameron who was making her way over to him John looked back at the poster showing her what he'd found.

"Humans do have a fondness for small animals." She told him confused as to why he thought this was anything important, she had seen the affection that people placed on pets and given how long they had been there, there was no reason as to why the fighters couldn't have developed a fondness for cats.

"No," he laughed at her innocence "no resistance fighter would have this poster there's something there." He corrected, having heard their discussion Sarah made her way over to see what they were talking about and arched an eyebrow as they stood in front of a poster that was completely out of place. Trusting him to be right Cameron walked towards the wall and tore the poster down revealing a safe embedded in the wall, looking at John over her should still not understanding how he knew it was there she reached out to grab hold of the safe intending to pull it out of the wall when she was blasted backwards and onto the floor. "It's rigged?" John said jumping at the shocked before rushing over to Cameron on the floor not moving. "What'd she say, one hundred and twenty seconds?" he asked his mum getting a nod in reply.

Walking over to the panel of the safe and seeing a small keypad he turned to see his mum putting Cameron in a sitting position. Resistance fighters, he tried to think about what they would use for a password when it came to him like a cold slap in the face. Punching in eight numbers and watching as the door opened up revealing two black duffle bags he pulled them out tossing one to his mum.

"The code was judgement day," he said in a quiet voice, before anything else could be said the dog from downstairs started barking as wildly as it had upon seeing Cameron, both son and mum's eyes locked fearing the worst. Throwing the strap for the bag around his neck he started walking over towards the small cyborg knowing that there was still over a minute before she would be up again he bent down and tried to pick her up, with all the coltan in her body he had thought that she would have been heavy but was shocked by the lightness of her considering the impact her punches had.

Placing her over his shoulders in a fisherman's carry he watched her mum shake her head before heading towards the window and climbing out, rushing over to follow her John shot one last look at the closed door hoping and praying nothing was going to come through there before they got out. Standing on the fire exit and watching his mum use the ladder he heard the door getting kicked open and quickly moved to the ladder, the brick work from the house blocking him from view. Knowing that it would be too hard to try and climb down with Cameron on his back he placed his feet either side of the ladder and held on as he slid down.

Wrapping one arm around her legs when he reached the bottom he took off into a run trying to keep up with his mum who had started moving away when his feet hit the floor.


	5. Chapter 5

Sitting on the edge of her bed in their new house, Cameron cocked her head to the side staring at the tiny diamond in her hand. The night before she had been more then shocked when her system rebooted to find herself across the back of John's neck as he ran down the street, apparently the safe had been rigged with a high voltage charge and when she tried to open it, it blasted her backwards. She still hadn't understood why John was carrying her however and quickly removed herself from his back. It hadn't taken them long to commandeer a new house, Cameron's ability to scan the buildings told them that it was empty and the chance of anyone going back was slim, and so it was set the two Connor's and cyborg protector had a place to stay for now.

All in all the house was quite similar to the one Sarah and John had back in 1999 in Red Valley Texas, merely having a third bedroom to make it seem that Cameron had somewhere to sleep and didn't walk around all night, 'diamonds are a girl's best friend' that was what John told her after she emptied the small black bag out to reveal the fortune in precious stones before he gave her one. She still was unsure how a rock could be someone's best friend; it served no purpose and did nothing to make itself seem valuable, when she asked Sarah why they were a girl's best friend she received no answer, merely stating 'that was sweet of John.' While keeping hold of the guns and money the older woman had allowed her son to keep the diamonds, she had said that trying to use them for anything would bring up too many questions, and so John had shovelled them back into the bag and taken them into his room.

Looking up when she heard movement coming from his room, Cameron quickly pocketed the diamond and left her own room heading into the kitchen where she knew Sarah sat, since having met her Cameron knew Sarah Connor hated her with some misplaced anger, possibly blaming her for Kyle's death. Seeing the bemused look from the older woman at either the fact she was dressed or what she was wearing, looking down at her clothes Cameron didn't see anything wrong in them, perhaps unintentionally she had copied John's style. A long pink sleeved t-shirt under a purple t-shirt the sleeves stopping just after her shoulders.

"That's err, an interesting choice." She commented from her place leaving against the counter, not seeing the need to reply Cameron took a seat at the table and stared ahead, she had found the best way to deal with Sarah Connor was to act as machine like as possible. Now John, that was a different story all together, he seemed more willing at times to at the very least treat her like she could be a person; speaking of which the male in question walked through the door, dropping on to the chair in front of her. "So you're going to school today," Sarah said looking down at John, he knew what was going. They'd been over this every single time.

"I know mum," he sighed turning to look at her from over his shoulder, "we've been over this." He finished narrowing his eyes at Cameron, for the first time seeing her choice in clothing, unlike his mum though he saw no problem in the fact that she appeared to be copying him, after all she needed to spend time around humans to blend in and it could be that they were the only ones she had spent any real time interacting with instead of moving through the crowd.

"Fine, let's go over it." she said moving in front of him and standing next to Cameron who was watching with unadulterated curiosity, "Where are you from?" she asked looking down at John arms crossed over her chest.

"Lawrence Kansas, twenty five miles west of Kansas city," he monotoned staring at his mum like this was the most boring thing he had to do, which it probably was.

"Lawrence Kansas is actually forty one miles west of Kansas City," Cameron corrected earning a half glare from John and a smug smile from Sarah. She didn't know why he glared at her; all she was trying to do was help him keep the story right.

"What about your dad?" Sarah asked, the smile now wiped from her face, John's head snapped up not sure where she was going with this, however like before Cameron was the one to answer thinking he didn't know or couldn't remember.

"Your dad was a soldier in a war, he died a hero." Swallowing bitterly John pushed his chair from under him and started walking back towards his room.

"Yeah, I know, my dad's always a hero." He took the time to shoot his mum a look glance before sighing, "And he's always dead." The sadness at the end of his statement was impossible to miss for the two still in the kitchen, keeping her eyes on his retreating form until he disappeared around the corner Sarah let out a sat sigh knowing it affected John more then he let people know.

Walking down the street in silence, Cameron watched as John kept his gaze forward not having said a word since coming up with the story about what happened to his or rather their dad, she didn't see what the problem was his dad was a hero; he died saving his mum and making sure he was born. Tilting her head to the side as she watched him walk, her eyes flashed blue as they racked down his back having witnessed him being tossed through a plasterboard wall the day before, while being programmed to only feel pain at its highest level being tossed around, shot or punched repeatedly in the face hadn't bothered her; she doubted however John was able to shake it off as much as he was showing them.

"You shouldn't have gotten involved," she told him not quickening her pace so she was able to walk alongside him, turning to look at her John's expression was one born out of confusion not sure what she was talking about, just what had he gotten involved in? "When the T-888 threw me through a wall yesterday, you should not have gotten involved, I was more than capable of defeating him." she cleared, to prove her point that he had lasting effects from trying to save her, Cameron allowed her head to touch the area of his back that had first smashed through the wall taking into account he winced slightly.

"Well you know," John shrugged moving away from her hand, even if she knew that he was still feeling pain from it he wasn't willing to let her know just how much, carrying her last night no matter how briefly had caused him to struggle but he didn't want to leave her there in that room alone. "You're just so small," he tried lamely thinking she'd understand what he meant, the blank look on her face however told him she didn't know what her size had to do with anything. "Both time's I've seen you fight another Terminator, you've been thrown around and beat up. I didn't want to see you get hurt." He finished quietly hoping that she hadn't heard him, turning his head back to the direction they were heading in he missed the slight quirk of her lips turning up.

"You wished to help me, " she said taking pieces from his ramblings and putting them together, the fact that he wouldn't look at her and his face was turning red only served to enforce this point, "It is my mission to protect you, and keep you safe." She said proud that she had figured it out but also confused as to why he thought he had to protect or help her. Smiling bitterly John shook his head knowing that she wouldn't understand why he felt the need to help her, after all it was her mission to keep him alive, and anything else that happened would have to be explained to her. Waiting for him to say something else Cameron increased her pace once again as John did, "Do boys have a best friend?" she asked after a few minutes of silence, turning his head to look at her not knowing why she had just asked him that question, he saw her holding the diamond in the palm of her hand. "You said diamonds are a girl's best friend, do boys have a best friend?" she repeated her question looking at him hopefully.

"A dog I think," he replied frowning as he thought about it, "People say a dog is a man's best friend." Seeing the look on her face he hoped she wasn't going to try and steal a dog to give it to him, he had only given her a diamond because she said that they were beautiful, not as much as you, he had almost blurted out when she made that statement but caught himself in time.

"The journey into manhood is complete when you have sexual intercourse." Cameron replied, John turned bright red and choked hoping she wasn't going to ask the next question. "Have you participated in sexual relationships?" She asked worrying him slightly with just how curious she was to this, trying to act like he didn't hear the question and hoping the blood would leave his face John continued his walk, "You are currently at the age were people have sex at a regular basis with each other not worried about the consequences." Turning to her once more wondering just where she got this information he saw that her face was her usual emotionless mask, like this was a normal conversation like she was talking about the weather. "I don't sleep, so I watch a lot of television, it informed me on human courtship and mating rituals," praying to a god he was sure didn't exist John was ready to give anything to stop her from talking. "You would be seen as a prime human specimen, attractive, noble, strong and loyal. Any female would be lucky if you chose to procreate with her."

Ready to curl up and die, John almost broke into a dance seeing the school in front of them, this was his chance to avoid having this discussion with her and hoped she wouldn't try to continue it at a later time. Looking around the school grounds as Cameron fell behind him slightly looking around for a different reason, he merely wanted to see what type of people were at the school and she was checking for any threats.

Heading through the main doors he stood at the back of the line watching the students have to walk through a metal detector, taking a chance to look at Cameron who still had the same inquisitive look on her face he smiled and winked at her before turning around again. Slowly walking through the metal detector and turning around to pick up his phone John stood near the wall waiting for his bodyguard to follow him through, and that was when it happened, the metal detector went off. The security guard told her to step back through before signalling her to try it again, worrying slightly when it went off again and the guard stared at her wondering what was going on, John rushed over.

"She had an accident, she's got a plate in her head." He told the guard knowing that her eyes were now firmly on him like they often were whenever he was close to her, crossing his fingers hoping that he would believe them the security guard pulled out a handheld metal detector and passed it across Cameron's head, the cyborg's eyes following it curiously.

"Go on." He told them watching as John led her away, grabbing hold of her wrist and feeling no resistance, John weaved around the crowd not trusting her to not just shove her way through if she lost sight of him, trusting him to take her where they needed to go Cameron's eyes remained glued to the hand on her. Stopping at the main office desk, John let go of her arm and gave her a nudge to stand next to him as there were two receptionists staring back at them.

"I'm a new student," John said earning an annoyed glare, half paying attention he heard Cameron copying his words, "My name's John Connor." He added watching her print out a piece of paper so he could pick his lessons, feeling her brown wide eyes on him John walked over to the chair against the wall and sat down looking at the paper trying to figure out what he should take. From the corner of his eye he watched Cameron sit next to him still staring no doubt ready to tell him that he wasn't meant to give in his real name. "They know I'm here," he said quietly not wanting other people to know what they were talking about, "The Terminator at the mall knew who I was and he didn't even see my face, if I'm supposed to be this great leader then I can't keep hiding from them." He finished looking down at her blank paper and making sure she had given her name as Cameron Baum, showing her his selection of lessons he waited for her to fill it out.

"We only have one space left in electronics," the receptionist told Cameron, "we'll transfer you to art instead." Seeing her annoyed look John once again took hold of her and started to walk away, her destroying the office because she wasn't going to be in all of his lessons wasn't the best way to keep a low profile, checking his timetable and then at hers he saw that they had to go to P.E. for the first thing in the morning, and here he was without a change of clothes.

Pushing the door gyms doors open with Cameron behind him, stepping foot into the gym he immediately froze seeing the all too familiar 'weird new kid' look he was getting off of the students already there, it didn't bother him how they looked at him or thought he was, having grown used to it having to run most of his life. What did bother him was how the look changed on the faces of the males in the gym, when Cameron walked around him and stood at his side, they were looking at her like she was a piece of meat, knowing she wouldn't understand and that she often came off as innocent John would have to keep a close eye on her as she would on him. He knew that she'd be able to stop anyone from doing anything to her, but once again he felt that he had to keep her safe from this world.

"So, you two are the new students. John Connor and Cameron Baum," the gym teacher said staring at them, "I don't suppose you have any change of clothes with you?" he asked getting a shake of the head from John as Cameron continued to look around not moving from his side, "Well you'll need to start bring some, you'll have gym three times a week. We're playing dodge ball." We finished picking a ball up and launching it at Cameron, the sound of rubber smacking skin filled the gym causing the students that were there to burst into laughter. Glaring at the teacher who looked slightly proud of himself John turned to look at the cyborg to his side seeing a faint red mark covering the front of her face. He knew that if she were human that would have her face burning.

"John, he just assaulted me with a ball." Cameron said turning to him looking more confused than he had ever seen her before, feeling sorry for her John ran his hand down the side of her face. Watching the teacher walk around the other students putting them in teams, everyone was shocked into silence when a ball was thrown through the air smacking the teacher in the face, closing his eyes not believing it John couldn't force himself to turn around when everyone including the gym teacher glared at Cameron who was looking unnaturally pleased with herself for it.

"You don't throw a ball until I say." He ground out at her, biting his tongue so he wouldn't laugh at what just happened John walked over to the other students and stood at the end of the line waiting for Cameron to follow him, unable to take the smile off of her face as she stood next to him. "To make things more interesting we'll have the boys play the girls, and if anyone of you have a throw like her, duck." The teach told them glaring at Cameron a bright red mark on his face.

Standing at the opposite end of the gym John stared at Cameron hoping she knew this was only a game and not something were you actually tried to hurt the other person with a ball, rushing forward and grabbing a ball that was in front of Cameron who didn't know she had to move he tossed it at one of the other girls not wanting the wrath of his cyborg on him. Having strength on their side the male team was able to whittle down the girls easily, only Cameron was able to throw the ball hard and fast enough to hit them, seeing one of the balls laying on the floor after the cyborg took another male out. Not having seen a girl pick up a ball on the other side of the gym, getting hit on his ankle he turned and shook his head before walking off to the side.

Sitting down on the bench he watched as Cameron turned with the ball and threw it at the girl that hit him, hanging his head in his hands as she walked over and sat next to him alongside the rest of the people that had been taken out of the game.

Waiting outside the gym or Cameron John looked back through the window watching as one of the males that she had knocked out of the game was talking to her, sighing he knew that he couldn't have told her no and made her leave with him, it would have caused too much of a scene. That didn't mean he liked the fact she was giving him the same charming and hopeful smile she had used on him when they first met, moving back out of sight not wanting them to see him looking in, he folded his arms over his chest.

"He asked for my digits," Cameron told him turning to face John when she left the gym before tilting her head slightly, "why would he want my fingers?" She asked looking down at her hand and flexing them, she had been able to play off her confusion while talking to him but didn't know what he was talking about.

"He didn't want your fingers," John replied laughing slightly seeing her confused look, "he waited you to give him your number. You've got art next so I'll see you after the class." He told her before walking in the opposite direction, turning her head in the direction she had to go, Cameron took one last glance at John's retreating form before walking away, a slight look of longing and loneliness mixed in her expression.

Stepping into the class, she quickly found herself having wanted to argue the point that she be put in the electronics class with John, how would she be able to keep him safe if she weren't around him. Taking a seat at the back of the class and off to the side close to the door she watched as other students filled the room up, not offering her a second look.

"We have a new addition to the class," the art teacher pointed out placing the attention on Cameron who sat there wondering why they felt the need to point out she and John were new, surely the students here weren't deficient and would be able to tell for themselves that they hadn't seen either one before. A stray thought entered her head that maybe the two teachers they had already had were Terminators, it would explain why the gym teacher had struck her with a ball, eyes wide she didn't know whether to leave the class and go to find John. "Ok so for this lesson and this lesson only, I'm going to allow you to do a painting of anything you want. As long as it's not vulgar." She added as an afterthought aware of what some of them might try to draw or paint.

Sitting in her seat Cameron watched as the students flowed around the classroom taking pencils, oil pastels and paints before returning to where they sat, she could draw or paint whatever she wanted, but what did she want? Her mission was to protect John Connor and help him destroy Skynet, but surely that couldn't have been a want, her CPU started buzzing in her head as she tried to come up with the answer for what appeared to her to be a equation.

Remaining there for a minute of two not moving and looking to the other students that she were merely thinking of what to paint, Cameron's eyes started to glow that ethereal blue colour shining through the otherwise innocent brown, slowly standing she headed to the front of the from and took a number of paint tubes and pencils before returning to her seat. Picking the pencil up Cameron allowed it to hover above the canvas briefly still unsure about what she should draw, slowly she started to place faint lines on the canvas in front of her, not appearing to be making any connection to each other them as they were all over the page on their own.

Getting more and more interested in what she was doing Cameron's grip on the pencil stared to tighten as she continued to draw, the lines now starting to become more and more detailed as they became an image and not just scribbles, unaware of anything that was going on around here even as her mind scanned for any immediate threats she let the pencil drop to the floor before picking up a paint brush and tube of paint. It was safe to say that the cyborg had found something that interested her, and for possibly the first time wasn't turning her head when people around her made sudden movements, only upon the end of the lesson and the small bell in the corridor behind her ringing did Cameron blink and tear her face away from her painting.

Standing from her seat she turned and left the room with the rest of the students not noticing a number of them staring at her picture in awe before turning to look at her walking out the door and towards were John's class was, she had been asked to draw what she wanted and that was exactly what she had done, taking pride in your work was something John Connor taught everyone in the future including her and it was only that reason she had thought about leaving with her painting. Maybe at the end of the day she'd go back and take it.

Walking around the art class looking at the half or even quarter finished pieces of work the teacher shook her head wondering just what they had been doing, thinking that it had been a mistake to allow them to do what they wanted, she had been ready to snatch Cameron's canvas and add it to the collection in her hand. That was before the painting caught her attention, freezing with her arm outstretched, she couldn't believe that a fifteen or sixteen year old had done that. It could certainly be called beautiful, definitely be called warped it was just so shocking and detailed. Standing on what looked to be a knocked over half destroyed building was one of the new students John Connor, with some type of gun in his hand, below him on the building and all around it were destroyed machines with red eyes. Next to John holding onto his arm was Cameron a smile on her face and what appeared to be a diamond in her hand.


	6. Chapter 6

A/n throughout this story i'm going to show more of Cameron's attitude where one minute she comes off machine like and cold and the next she appears capable of every emotion, sorry if this makes it harder to follow.

Staring forward like a zombie, John was sure that the teacher thought the class was retarded or something, he had learnt a long time ago about what colours the earth, neutral and live wires were. If he didn't then he had super smart cyborg to help him, a slight smile formed on his face when the image of her throwing the ball into the gym teachers face came back to him, however it didn't last long, sitting to the left of him was the male who Cameron was talking to. Michael Gorgran, and from the few minutes he'd been around him, John could tell that he was a typical jock. Fancy clothes, I'm better then you attitude, and his dads top of the range sports car. John also thought he was dumber then a gold fish, that mightn't have been actually true, but he couldn't help the jealousy that came over him listening the jock talk about _his_ cyborg.

"I'm telling you man, the new girl is hot." he laughed to his friends, "And she doesn't have a clue, all I have to do is lay on the charm for a day or two and BAM! In the teachers' lounge before the end of the week." Eye's narrowing to the point of pinpricks, John struggled with the urge to not drive his pen into Michael's temple, this is exactly what he needed to keep her safe from. He told her the day he met her that she was hot, it might have been after he found out she was a Terminator; but that didn't change the fact, he'd been fascinated with her the first time she talked to him. The hopefulness when she asked if she'd see him later and the disappointment when he told her he couldn't. He had no idea how she went from being able to show emotion to how she was now, he didn't actually believe she had merely flipped a switch to act like that.

"Dude, you're gonna bang the new chick." His friend said in awe having seen her earlier on, "man that is so sweet, I bet she hasn't had any before either." He laughed loudly. That was until a crack filled the otherwise silent classroom, turning in his seat and for the first time seeing John in the class, Michael's smiled grew on his face, he knew that the two had come into the gym together and that he had been waiting for Cameron. The fact that in John's hand was pieces of broken plastic from his pen only served to tell him he'd heard what they were talking about, and from the looks of it didn't like how they were talking, ready to make another comment keeping his eyes on John to see how he'd react. However the bell rang before he could open his mouth, and the scruffy haired new kind left the class almost tearing the door off of the handle to get out.

Taking a deep breath to try and calm himself down, John leant against the wall next to his classroom, killing Michael or even kicking the crap out of him would bring too much attention onto himself, considering the fact he'd already ignored his mum and gave his real name in he'd need to fly under the radar as much as he could. Turning his head to the side having seen movement, he watched as Cameron, oblivious to anything else it seemed, determinedly making her way towards him, no one could question where she was going with her sole focus on John. It was almost an ego boosting experience for him that she was only interested in him even if it were because of his mission.

"Art is an un-educational class," she told him as they walked down the corridor having a break after their first two lessons, "there is also the chance that Skynet has spies in the school." She added quieter than before, spinning his head in shock to stare at her John's stomach dropped out, if Skynet had spies here then he and Cameron would have to leave. Now. "Both classes I've been in, they had introduced me as a new student, and the gym teacher struck me with a ball." Smiling now he could tell that she was genuinely worried, but her reason to be was just funny. "Why are you not more worried?" she asked not understanding why he would see humour in the situation.

"Cam, they have to introduce us as new students." He told her the smile still not leaving his face, continuing their walk towards a table he noticed that she was still staring at him curiously. It was freaking him out was well, normally he could just go about what he was doing but now it was too hard with it just being the two of them there. "What?" he asked defensively, due to being a result of his circumstances he still wasn't used to people paying him too much attention, living on the road for so long had forced him to try and go unnoticed whenever he did enrol in a school no matter how short it was for.

"You shortened my name," she said her eyes widening slightly, he always found it difficult to stare into her eyes when they were filled with that child like curiosity, it caused his stomach to do summersaults and thoughts that he wasn't allowed to have filled his mind. "That's something friends do, or people in caring relationships as a show of affection." A smile formed on her face, either real emotion or she was mimicking other people's expressions, with his cheeks now burning slightly John had another reason to not look at her, it was at times like this he wished she was able to just accept the fact he had shorted her name, yes out of affection but it didn't need to be said. It was much like when he gave her a diamond, she had been confused as to why he gave to her, and then asked his mum why diamonds were a girl's best friend.

Watching John as he busied himself with his surroundings, Cameron's mind flashed back to her last conversation with him in the future before he told her she had to go back to protect his younger self.

_Sitting in the rather small quarters, which were in fact the largest on the compound, Cameron smiled at John as he walked into the room from the far door, looking up and meeting her brown eyes he froze in mid step. The complete trust and adoration there was something that ninety-nine percent of the time made him happy and feel that he wasn't living in hell, but right now it made him sick. He had just been informed that Skynet had sent yet another Terminator to kill him in the past, it made no sense to him why they just didn't focus on killing him in the here and now._

_Sitting on the edge of his bed he tried his best to put a smile on his face, he knew that she would be able to tell if it were truthful and he didn't want to worry her before he dropped the news on her, before he told her that she had a new mission, one that would take her away from him and put her with, technically him._

_"Cam, we've just been told that Skynet have sent a T-888 to 1999," he started using the shortened version of her name he came up with not long after reprogramming her to help him. Her beaming smile when he called her Cam, fell slightly hearing the rest of the news, there was only one plausible reason that Skynet would send anything to the past, to try and kill him before he became the man she knew. And loved? "The rest of Tech-Com won't let me go back and destroy it, they think it'll be too risk." The look on her face told him she agreed with the resistance, that often isolated her unless she was alongside John, after finding out he had pretty much made sure she was with him at all times to ensure none of them tried to kill her, and call it an accident or say she went bad. "There's only one other solution," he continued swallowing hard. "To send you back, and make sure I'm protected."_

_After hearing what he was going to do, her eyes widened as she looked at him in shock, her CPU quickly went into overdrive. Had she done something wrong? Was that why he was sending her away? She had followed his orders to the letter ever since he reprogrammed her, the resistance fighters would die to save him, but she would kill them to ensure John Connor lived. Even when their relationship had taken on a more personal touch, no matter what the thoughts of the other fighters were, he ignored them, staying with her as she did him._

_"Why?" she asked hesitantly, her chocolate brown eyes filling her tears, something that had shocked him the first time he had seen it, the first time she cried John had no idea what was happening and thought her program was shutting down. "Have I done something to anger you?" she asked sounding more hurt than ever before, for one of the few fighters that had seen the horrors of Judgement day and survived, it broke his heart seeing Cameron like this. "I promise that I'll try harder in everything you ask of me," she said now visibly shaking and begging him. "Don't send me back, I want to stay here, with you." She begged._

_The image was too much for John and he left his bed, wrapping his arms around her tightly as she fell into his embrace openly sobbing, the fact people thought Terminators didn't have emotion had long been shot out of the water for him, and this in the worst way stabbed that fact further home. If he had another choice he wouldn't send her away, but it was the only way he'd know that his younger self would be safe unless he went back on his own._

_"Cam, listen to me." He whispered into her hair, "If I didn't have to I wouldn't send you back, you know that. You're the only one I trust to keep me safe when I'm fifteen ok," he told her pulling away slightly but still feeling her arms wrapped around him scared that if she let him go he'd disappear. "I need you to do me one more thing when you're back there as well, you need to make sure that you get created." He continued whispering, "You don't take orders from my mum ok, and you only listen to me at that age if you have to. If it's life or death. But you make sure that you get created back then, I don't care if you have to lie to them, or sneak out in the middle of the night." Placing a feather light kiss on her mouth he stepped back into the hug until he had to take her to the machine._

Having felt the heat from his cheeks disappear John and turned to look at Cameron, he was used to her not talking all that much, but he had expected her to continue talking about why friends gave each other names. What he saw shocked him though, almost like she was staring through him, Cameron's eyes started to water.

"Cameron?" he asked worriedly moving around to the side of the table she sat at, he had no idea what was going on, why she was crying or even that she could cry. "What's wrong?" he asked rubbing her back slightly, it would look far too odd if he just sat there watching her cry, not only to himself but other students. The contact seemed to break her out from her daze as she turned to look at him, the intensity of the emotions shown in her eyes forced him to swallow but keep eye contact with her.

"Promise me you won't send me away." She said quietly, he had to strain to hear her question and the strangeness of it caused him to stare at her in confusion. "Friends make promises that they keep with each other, promise that you won't send me away." She said a hint of begging in her tone, still shocked by the level of emotion that she was able to show being a cyborg John nodded his head agreeing to her promise. He had no idea what had caused her to ask that, or even for her to start crying, but he knew that if she had asked him to kill every single person on the school grounds while she looked that sad, hurt and lonely, he would have.

His nod seemed good enough for the female cyborg who didn't seem to know what to do next, leaning forward slightly John wiped the tears away from her eyes and face able to see the bewilderment in her from his sudden move, his brain was screaming at him that she was a machine and not real, yet once again his stomach was doing flips. The decision made he pulled his hand away and shuffled along the bench so they were still sitting next to each other but not as close, tilting her head Cameron didn't understand what just happened, the sudden reclusiveness that John showed baffled her. This once again was proof that she knew he did think of her as more than a machine at times but was still shocked by it, turning away from him and scanning the grounds for a threat to his person, a shadow fluttered across the table.

"So are you going to give me your phone number?" a male voice asked, both John and Cameron turned around to stare at Michael giving what would have been a charming smile to her, after whatever just happened with her John was in no mood to sit there and watch that overgrown ape try and flirt with her. However he wasn't sure how Cameron would react if he tried to do anything, gritting his teeth he stood up and left the table, brown eyes lingering on him as he left Cameron didn't pay any attention to Michael until he sat down next to her. "I was wondering if you wanted to get something to eat tonight?" he continued now happy that John had left, granted it would have preferred it if he stayed having seen the reaction he got out of him in the classroom.

"I'm sorry," she offered as her form on rejection before standing up and trailing after John, watching her walk away in a state of shock not believing that she had just said no to him Michael stayed glued to his seat, his brain quickly clicked into gear telling him that she didn't actually say no. She just said sorry and left.

Walking in a random direction, John was aware that his suddenly bout of jealousy was insane, he wasn't dating Cameron and he was sure she didn't know what a date was. His experiences though limited only counted to a few make outs with girls that had quickly taken to his brooding nature while on the road, turning to look over his shoulder it was his turn for him to cock his head to the side in wonder as Cameron slowly made her way towards him. He didn't know what he expected to happen after he left, he had told her they had to blend in and that meant talking to other people, for someone whose social skills resembled those of a dead cat it was hard for him to talk to other people. She on the other hand, when trying was capable of tricking anyone she wanted, after all for someone as so guarded as himself he had fallen for her tricks and believed 'some hot girl wanted to be friends with the new weird kid.'

"Mr Quarterback get your number?" he asked as she came closer to him, unable to help himself from the slight biting tone to the question, an almost blank look was all he got in reply. "I don't trust him around you," he added knowing taking it out on Cameron wasn't the best way to go if he were trying to show he was helping her. "You're one of the prettiest girls in this school, he had you in his sights and he wasn't going to let that go. Then what he was saying about you in class," he trailed off once again feeling embarrassed around her and sure that he'd made himself seem like an ass, he knew realistically unless something happened to her then Cameron was going to get attention from the male population, his own dirty and secret thoughts included.

"You think I'm pretty?" she asked, picking the part of the sentence she wanted, nodding slightly as he would look at her for a second before turning his attention elsewhere, John's head snapped up when she crept closer to him kissing his cheek for the second time since he had known her. "Thank you," she continued sounding shyer, "I think you're pretty too." The words held such truthfulness to them that John didn't have the heart to tell her that males weren't called pretty, well unless they liked men.

--

Having been out and finishing buying the items the trio would need to keep them comfortable for the time being, Sarah programmed each new number into the three mobile phones. It still baffled her that she bought Cameron a phone, after all she didn't like spending any time around her son's cyborg protector let alone talk to her, there was also the fact that she spent nearly all her time around John, so by all rights all she had to do was buy two phones knowing where the third person of their elicit family would be. Perhaps it had been the way John would glance at her, when she gave her brutal comments to Cameron that she was a machine, or the attitude she showed when around her.

John's compassion for Cameron was worrying, he didn't see her as a Terminator, something that had taken the life of his father and literally travelled through time to kill him on numerous occasions. No her son saw her as he 'hot' girl that talked to him on his first day of school, she supposed that she couldn't blame him, with the knowledge of what his life would offer him in the future, John had been unable to create bonds with people. His first real one had been with the Terminator once sent to kill her, returned to save him, as Cameron had told her John needed a father figure at the time and he got one. What did he need now?

Hearing the front door open she walked out of the kitchen and watched as her son accompanied by Cameron arrived home, pleased that he was unhurt she couldn't stop the smile that formed on her face.

"Learn anything new?" she asked John, her own dislike of machines wouldn't allow her to pose her question to Cameron who merely following him into the kitchen as did Sarah.

"Dodge ball is a sport that teaches reflexes and hand to eye co-ordination." Cameron started unaware of Sarah rolling her eyes in front of her, moving to the fridge to get himself a drink John allowed his protection to list off the things she had found out that day. "Any female within the appropriate age group would feel honoured if John copulated with them, and he thinks I'm pretty." She said before leaving the kitchen completely unaware that the normal look she got off of Sarah was currently being given to her son who had froze.

Slowly turning to face his mum who was impatiently waiting for his answer, John was more than ready to go and pull Cameron back by her hair and make her explain what she had just said. He knew that whatever talk he was about to have with his mum, it wasn't going to be one that he wanted to or would even enjoy.

"Before we even talk about you _copulating _with anyone, you think Cameron's pretty?" she asked, she had heard her son call her hot back in 1999, when she had gone inside the gas station and the two had been left outside next to the car, but she had thought that he was merely stating he had found her hot when he thought she was human. That didn't seem to be the case however, giving the cyborg a diamond when he had a bag full of them was one thing, but now he had let her know that he found her attractive for the second time. "She's a machine John, the same kind that wants you dead. You think that just because they changed her from male to female, slapped that pouty little smile on her face she's different?" she shouted, John's mood went from defensive about what Cameron said to angry from the way is mum was not only treating him, but the being that saved his life.

"She is different!" John defended quickly, the dark look that formed on Sarah's face told him that mightn't have been the right thing to say, but the argument had been started and he wasn't going to back down now. "You mightn't see it because you go around treating her like crap, but I do. She can feel emotion, she can feel things. You've seen how she looks hurt when I say something to her. I saw her cry today." He finished revealing what he had seen from Cameron, from his outburst it was clear that he didn't care if his mum believed in what he thought about her. "She isn't the reason he died mum," he added quieter knowing full well the true reason Sarah was so against Cameron, "she wasn't the one that they sent back to try and kill you and him. It isn't her fault dad died." Sarah was speechless at what he said, either from shock that he had hit the nail on the head or anger he would even bring it up.

Walking out of the kitchen and in the direction of his own room, John let out a breath that he hadn't known he kept in during the argument, his treatment of Cameron might have been poor at times, but then at other times he acted like she was a real person to him. In many ways she was, for all he knew and for all of his mum's ire who was to say that she didn't have a soul, the fact that no one even knew what one was only made that question harder to answer. The level of emotion that she was able to display, was enough for him to truly think she did have a soul, if there were such a thing. The unwavering loyalty she showed to him was equalling as scary as her ability to feel.

Stopping outside his door he turned and walk across the small hallway to Cameron's, knocking once before pushing the door open he saw her just sitting on her bed. He didn't even know what she did when alone so this stunned him, walking further into the room it was his turn to look decidedly out of place as she stared at him.

"You heard that huh?" he asked looking down at her, a tiny nod as his answer as she stared at him unsure why he was in here. "I've err, tried to get her to stop treating you like you don't matter, but I don't think she'll listen to me." Scratching the top of his head waiting for a reply that never came John turned and started to walk out of the room, wondering what the point was of even trying.

"It's only your opinion that matters to me." Cameron said as he walked out the door, looking over his shoulder at her for a second John smiled before closing the door behind him.


	7. Chapter 7

Tilting his head to the side, John looked at his still badly bruised neck in the bathroom mirror. No longer were there finger prints on him, but the skin itself had darkened. If anyone had noticed it earlier in the day they hadn't mentioned it, poking and prodding at the skin, he found that it wasn't hurting as such; but felt like a burn. Moving his head too much was difficult, the skin was taut, small movements like that of a robot ironically were all he was capable of. Not for the first time, and he knew it wouldn't have been the last, John had ignored his mum for the rest of the day, the only time he spent with her was when she called both him and Cameron for tea, however the three of them ate that in silence.

Walking out of the bathroom slowly, he looked up and down the hallway; his mum was back in her room no doubt coming up with a plan. Cameron, he guessed that she was currently patrolling the house; his mind had been jumbled since she told him she only cared about what he thought, that and the look on her face when he said that she was pretty. It was an understatement, he thought that she was a lot more than just pretty, but there were a number of problems with him admitting that to anyone; even himself when it wasn't in the dead of night. Stepping back into his room, he made his way over to the small drawer which was one of the few pieces of furniture there. Laying inside in a small black pouch could possibly be the answer to his problems, it would be so easy for him to take the diamond and flee. A new name, a new life, a new country, no one would find him.

The fantasy was just that though, a fleeting fantasy. The chances of him getting far before someone, or something found him were slim, pouring the tiny and valuable stones back into the pouch he closed the drawer with them in it. No he couldn't leave, even if he was given the chance, a new life was something he'd never have. Judgement day was coming and with it his destiny. Taking a black hoody out of his wardrobe, he pulled it over his body and covered the top of his head with the hood, he walked over to his bedroom door before closing it quietly; there was no reason to tip any one off. Opening his window enough he carefully pulled himself up and out of it, dropping to the floor without a sound.

Feeling the grass crunch under his feet, John took one fleeting look at the house before jogging down the street. This wasn't him trying to escape his destiny. It wasn't him trying run away and have a new life. This was merely him needing to get out of the house for a little bit, turning a corner he stopped, looking back the way he had just come he was sure he saw someone following him. Speeding up in the direction that he was heading in, he couldn't become paranoid just because he'd been attacked three times in the past few days by Terminators.

Feeling like he should have taken something with him, John had a tingling sensation shot up and down his spine, something he usually associated with someone following him, speeding up once again this time breaking into a sprint trying to lose whoever was there; or even just give him peace mind if there wasn't anyone. His mind quickly came up with just what might have been behind him, the Terminator that had attacked him at the mall and then turned up at his home, yes Cameron had beaten it enough and then drove a bar through its head but he'd seen them get back up after worse. Human muscles, and the adrenaline fear or worry gave could only last so long however, unable to keep going at the pace he had, John started to slow down.

Coming to a stop after a few more minutes of running, he doubled over trying to get his breath back. Not wanting to be an easy target by staying out in the open if anyone was following him, he slowly strolled into the park on the opposite side of the road and pushed his body behind a tree, he knew that unless it was a Terminator following him, the chances were he had lost them. Still his breathing was ragged, he tried to take each and every breath through his nose, wanting to limit the amount of noise he was making, after less than thirty seconds he could hear light feet walking across the gravel that was the road. Not only that but he could make out someone now walking down in the opposite direction, it was safe to say his luck seemed to have ran its course.

Spinning around the tree to see just who had been following him, anything that he might have been ready to do in his escape went out the window seeing just who it was. Staring into the big brown eyes of Cameron, his whole body froze. With the only light coming from the moon, his Terminator protector looked more like an angel. The faint light made it seem like her skin was glowing, and her eyes had more of a shine to them, looking almost human and playful, almost as if his leaving the house and her following was something fun, something that normal human teenage boys and girls would do. Sneak out of the house when a parent was in bed.

"Have you been following me all the time?" he asked, his breathing only coming back down to normal now, a faint smile formed on her face knowing that he had figured someone had been there all along. His own laugh was let out briefly, he knew that he hadn't been going crazy, something that he could have easily though after his life, however any humour was quickly wiped from his feet hearing the person from the direction he had been looking in earlier drawing ever closer.

It seemed that Cameron had seen or heard them as well, her move however wasn't expected. Putting one hand on his chest she reversed their positions so his back was up against the tree and she was standing in front of him extremely close, before John could ask her just what she was doing she wrapped her arms around his neck, with confidence he wasn't sure she'd have, Cameron guided her mouth to his. Shocked by both the feeling and taste of her lips, John stood there frozen to the spot, his first reaction had been to push her off of him, but he knew that he couldn't budge her. Seeing the newcomer drawing ever closer with each second, John's mind shut down.

Closing his eyes he started to return the kiss that the cyborg had started, running on instinct he moved his hands that had stayed at his side up to Cameron's silk like hair before drifting them down her back, allowing him as small grope of her rear before resting them on her hips, he quickly moved their bodies so she was now against the tree. Feeling her tongue probe at his mouth for more access, John wondered just where she had learnt to kiss like that, or even why she was going to such lengths, however his hormone ridden body didn't really care at the minute. Opening his mouth wider, he was pretty sure her tongue was more like a snake, as it fought with his for dominance of the kiss, feeling her arch away from the tree and pressing more of her curved body into his, John couldn't help the moan that went into the kiss. However much too soon for him, it was over as Cameron pulled away.

"He has left the vicinity," she whispered, her lips centimetres in front of his own as John forced himself to nod, he couldn't trust himself to speak right now. Blood wasn't flowing to his brain at the second, however there was enough blood left in the top half of his body for him to know what she was saying. She had kissed him so they wouldn't get questioned, forcing himself to look past her, and not in her eyes or now slightly swollen lips he stepped back, a small bitter smile on his face. What had he thought, that an incredibly hot girl wanted to make out with him, in the middle of a park at night for no reason? Even if she was a Terminator, rejection still felt the same.

Looking at him curiously Cameron waited for him to say something, everything about the way he held his body shouted pain, but she wasn't aware of its source. With the fact that he wasn't looking at her either, her only conclusion was that he was angry with her.

"We should probably head back," John said as quietly as her first whispered words, taking another step away from her, he waited until it looked like she was ready to move before he started to walk in the direction of the house. The walk while now in silence was difficult for John, after making out with Cameron and having her press her body up against his had made it nearly impossible for him to do little more than shuffle, the tightness of his jean being a problem. Happy that she didn't make conversation unless she felt she had to, John was able to try and think over what had just happened, he couldn't believe he had allowed himself to be taken him but how great it felt to kiss her; however that small plus was it meant her taste would forever be imprinted on his brain.

Having become used to silent walks in the future, she used this time to watch him, Cameron was still unable to come up with the reason as to why his posture said he was angry and upset, her mind ran through different reasons so to why he would be like this. She was sure that his anger at Sarah had vanished some time ago, otherwise he wouldn't have appeared at ease when he turned around and saw her behind him. No, the reason was from something that had recently happened within the last ten minutes, but she didn't know of anything bad that had happened which would have put him in this mood. Stopping outside his bedroom window John turned to face her, before interlocking his fingers and spreading his palms out.

"This is safer than going through the front door," he told her, from his years in foster care he had become an expert in sneaking in and out of the house. Her eyes filled with something he couldn't place, John waited for Cameron to use his hand as a boost to get back in the house, after all the ground on the outside was at a lower level making it harder for someone her size. "Put you foot in my hand, and I'll boost you up." He told her seeing that she wasn't going to move, now knowing what she had to do Cameron stood on John's open hand as he helped push her through the window, trying to keep the pain off of his face. Carrying her on his shoulders had been easy, her weight was spread out across his back, but having that coltan made frame standing on his hand was harder then he thought. Once she was safely inside, his fingers gripped the inside of the window, as his feet worked like that of a spider enabling him to climb up and then topple into his room.

Getting back to his feet and hoping that he hadn't woken his mum up, John's eyes perhaps for the first time since the kiss made contact with Cameron's, he wasn't really sure what as meant to happen now. He knew what he wanted to happen, but her answer to his unspoken question as to why she kissed him shot that idea to hell, however it seemed that she was just at a loss as to what to do next. Waiting for a few seconds to see if he was going to say or do anything, she turned around and left his room leaving John to collapse on his bed, sleep would never come to him.

Walking into her own room in a state of confusion, Cameron was sure that John wasn't going to sneak out of the house again, and the fact that any threats or intruders would be picked up immediately by her, she could only come up with one thought. She enjoyed kissing John and she wanted to do so again.

--

Upon entering the kitchen Sarah was stunned to see John sitting there, spinning the spoon around the bowl of cereal in front of him. She usually left her son to get up on his own, he had never been a morning person, so seeing him the first one up, and looking like he hadn't slept at all the night before meant something wasn't right.

"Rough night?" she asked, trying to get over the argument they had regarding Cameron the day before, looking up from his bowl for a split second before turning to face it John didn't give her an answer. "Take that as a no," she laughed slightly before taking the seat opposite him, "wouldn't have to with the footprints up the side of the house?" she asked watching as his eyes snapped up wider than normal. "John you don't spend years making sure that your son is safe, and not know when he sneaks out and back in." She added with a smile that belied her words. Seeing that he wasn't going to get in trouble he allowed the faint smile that had been forming on his face to show, as his hair fell over his eyes, much like it had when she asked if he'd met any cute girls.

Thinking of cute girls, the soft pitter patter of feet signalled Cameron's arrival into the kitchen. Grin leaving his face as quick as it formed, John started to mash the pieces of soggy cereal in his bowl with the back of the spoon, having seen his reaction to the cyborg walk in, Sarah narrowed her eyes now piecing together that there must have been some type of argument between the two of them. Either that or her son had done something she knew he was too smart to do, or at least she hoped he was, but the way that Cameron looked at him, almost like she wanted him to look at her, put doubt in her mind.

"Did you know John snuck out last night?" she asked now standing and walking over to the kettle, flicking the switch and it and listening to the soft rumble of the water boiling.

"Yes." She answered robotically, she knew that if John had shared anything that happened Sarah wouldn't be talking to her the way she was, in fact there mightn't have been any talking. Instead gun fire. "I joined him on his late night jog." She finished taking the seat that Sarah had left, John still hadn't looked at her once since she came in. She was unsure why he was ignoring her, since she had met him and saved his life he had always talked to her.

Looking up when he was sure she wasn't staring at him, John didn't know what to think. Things would have been simpler if Cameron hadn't said anything last night, at least then he wouldn't have been left feeling two inches tall, the worst thing about it, was that she was so innocent at times, she didn't know she had done anything wrong.

"Have a good day at school," Sarah said, laughing at the look her son gave her, "and you don't kill anyone. Or kiss anyone." She said to Cameron watching the cyborg following John out the door, if she didn't know better she would have said that there was an almost secretive look on the machines face after being told that. Shaking her head at the absurdity of it, Cameron didn't have anything to hide from her, especially not after being told she shouldn't kiss anyone.

In less of a talkative mood then he was the day prior, John wanted nothing more than to get to school and hope he wouldn't have to sit next to Cameron all day with his current mood being the way that it was, he knew it was cruel to think like that but he couldn't help it. He could almost picture those big brown eyes looking at the back of him like a kicked puppy, it was that sole image which slowed his pace down from the maddening march he had started since leaving the house, his anger coming off of him in waves, a sign that Cameron took to mean she had to keep her distance. Seeing him slow back down she took it to be a sign that she was now allowed to move closer to him.

"I'm sorry for anything I have done that has upset you," Cameron said from behind him, hearing her apologise and not know why only forced his anger back to the surface, back turning rigid he was toying with the idea of turning around and screaming at her. Let him find out if he could tear her down to how he felt, "You've been kind to me since we met," she continued not aware that she was only fuelling his anger at her, "I wish you would tell me why you are angry so I could help you." She finished. Counting to ten to try and calm himself down, John found that it didn't work, his anger was still there, bubbling under the surface, a festering rage that had been born from years of being dragged from place to place, this was merely the match to ignite it all.

"Do you even know what you're apologising for?" he spat at her, the venom held in his question forced Cameron to take a step away from him. The look in his eye was one she had seen many times before, only not on this John, the look on his face was the same one he wore while ordering soldiers or fighting with Skynet creations. "Of course you don't, you're a machine, you can't feel." He said spinning on his heel and walking away from her. Taken back by what he had just said, Cameron stood on the spot, hurt flashed across her eyes at his statement, it was the first time she had heard him call her that. It had only been the day before when he had defended her, saying she was more than that. Had he lied? No she was sure that he had been speaking truthfully to his mum so what had changed?

Seeing him putting too much distance between them, she broke into a power walk trying to catch up to him, while at the same time trying to stay away, however she wasn't going to get too close to him. She had no desire to feel his anger at her, it had never happened while in the future and it wasn't something she was in a rush to see again, much like the walk home from the park though she was able to see he wasn't calming down. A confrontation while he was in this state of mind wouldn't have been the best thing, it was to her knowledge that while angry humans were more irrational, and thus more aggressive, and if anyone was to push his apparent short fuse the effects could be destructive.

Walking across the school grounds, the bell ringing as he entered the building, John took the time to look over his shoulder for the first time since unloading on Cameron, over ten feet away she walked behind him, her eyes trained on his body. The look she gave him made him feel guilty for what he said to her, rationally he knew it wasn't her fault with what happened last night, she felt that it was the best way to keeping what turned out to be a police officer from asking what they were doing out at night. The guilt he felt coupled with the way she was looking at him was more than enough to extinguish his anger.

Pushing the door open, he kept his body against it allowing Cameron to walk in first, the look of confusion on her face when she walked through was clear for anyone to see. Her CPU wouldn't allow her to figure out what was going on inside John's head, one minute he was kind and caring to her, the next he was shouting at her in the street and then he was kind once again. Taking a seat in the middle of the class she watched as he walked over, and like the past ten minutes hadn't happened dropped down next to her. Human behaviour was indeed complex. She was also trying to discover the source of his irritation with her. Yesterday they had been fine, he had given her a pet name, called her pretty which she returned the statement to him, defended her from his mum, they had even shared a kiss. Realization formed on her otherwise inquisitive face, it was like a giant light bulb had just been switched on inside all of her circuitry. 'He has left the vicinity.' Her own words played back thanks to her memory was able to store anything she had seen or heard, the look on his face after she had said so, that was when his attitude had changed.

"The human mind is a complex thing," their teacher said staring back at the class, "the way it can interpret a number of different scenarios, and come up with a new result each time." Drumming his pen on the edge of his desk, John wasn't paying that much attention to what the teacher was talking about, experience had taught him that he wouldn't be around long enough to actually need to remember any of this before leaving. "Take fear for example, as humans we can fear anything. Clowns, spiders, water, small spaces, even technology." The last statement caused snickers to flow around the room from all but Cameron and John. "Sure you laugh, but there are people out there that are so scared of technology, they won't even buy a cell phone or computer." He carried on.

"What like they think machines will kill them?" a girl called from the back, full blown laughter filled the room now, trying to join in and stop his knee from bobbing up and down in annoyance, John's smile was extremely forced. Sitting next to him however Cameron wasn't sure what was a so funny, machines were going to try and kill them, she was proof of that, and the only person that had any chance of helping the human race survive was sitting next to her. "How stupid could you be to think that." The girl carried on now laughing with her friends, "We're smarter than machines not the other way around."

Rolling his eyes, John briefly wondered if that girl was going to be one of the survivor's if he, his mum and Cameron didn't find a way to stop Skynet from ever being built. They had already stopped it once, but it seemed that it hadn't been good enough. Morons. Apart from any surviving armies, he'd be leading a group of morons to fight a war, great. It was surprising that he'd be able, or was able to find anyone that wouldn't shoot themselves in the foot with a gun the first time they picked one up. It wasn't there faults really, he didn't think anyone else on the planet could strip an Ak-47 as fast as he could at his age, teenagers played football and went out on dates; he on the other hand went to shooting ranges and ran from cyborgs from the future.

Standing up, John dropped his notepad back into his bag not having taken a single note, looking at his companion who was also rising he saw her slanted scrawl covering a page. It confused him as to why she wrote anything down, if she could remember it all, then there was no reason to make notes and it also made doing his homework all the easier. Leaving the class room with Cameron to his side, John's eyes scanned the corridor for Michael, after last night if he tried flirting with the girl to his side again he'd find John's fist embedded in his face.

"What the fuck!" he yelled feeling himself being dragged to the side by someone whose strength could only mean a Terminator, stumbling to stay on his feet and registering the darkness of the store cupboard he had been tossed in, he spun around. Cameron was closing the door behind them and moving a box in front of it, "If there's danger, you can just tell me from now on." He told her folding his arms over his chest, she really was lacking in some human interaction skills while doing well in other ones. Watching her stare at him intently and not keeping an eye on the door, like he thought she would if someone or something that was after him was in the school, it was John's turn to cock his head to the side.

His eyes scanning the cupboard they were in, John didn't do well with small spaces. Maybe it was because of being in a car more than in a house, but he couldn't be in a closed off space for too long, cars were ok for him, they might have been the cause of his fear but he could see the outside and so didn't feel closed off. Cupboards though. They weren't open, no they were as closed off as you could get, just wide enough for one person to straight dead on, the shelves made it hard to turn your body, few things had less space that a human could be put into. So caught up in his train of thought, he hadn't noticed the look that Cameron was giving him, for one of the few times her eyes weren't blank, didn't have that puppy dog innocence and weren't filled with curiosity.

"You came to the wrong conclusion," she informed him, eyes snapping to the female that didn't come up much past his shoulder, John had no idea what she was talking about and wasn't really in the mood to play a riddle game. "The source of your anger with me, was because you came to the wrong conclusion," right he thought, she'd already told him that. It was times like this Cameron came off more machine like then usual. Taking three steps forward and closing the distance between them, John's eyebrow arched and Cameron was sure that he would have taken a step back if he could of, a faint smile formed on her face. Had she caught the future leader of mankind off guard, and so baffled him. "I wanted to." Was all she told him. Now standing directly in front of him, before he had the chance to ask what she was talking about; wrapping her arms around his neck for the second time in less than twenty four hours she guided her mouth to his.


	8. Chapter 8

A/n: The girl that called her a bitch whore is in this chapter.

Perhaps having seen it coming, John was a lot more prepared this time and his brain didn't turn into a pile of mush. No, his thought pattern resembled something more like, _ohh she's a tricky Terminator_. W_hat's she protecting me from this time_? And _how is she doing that with her tongue? _His refusal to return the kiss confused Cameron, his body was giving off enough testosterone to indicate that he wanted to have sex with her, so she had no idea why he wouldn't reciprocate. Pulling back from him slowly but this time keeping her arms around his neck tighter she stared into his eyes, head cocked to the side. His pupils were huge and his eyes hazy, as well as there being a very telling strain against his jeans, and from the closeness of them it was pushing against her thigh.

"John?" she asked, electronics going into overdrive as she tried to discover if there were anything wrong with him, "The correct thing to do in this situation, is to return the kiss." There was less of a mechanical tone to her statement and almost the playfulness that was in her eyes the night before. Shaking his head slightly, John went to question just why she was doing this, if it were some new type of torture designed to make him go crazy. The variety might have been good though. However the second he opened his mouth, Cameron was back in her previous position this time her tongue in his mouth. Eyes drifting as he started to lose himself into the kiss, he decided that he didn't care if she were doing this to keep him safe, even if at the minute the evidence was starting to point to the contrary.

Allowing him to move her smaller body, she was pushed up against a shelve as she moved one hand from around John's neck to his top, hand clenching around it as she pulled him closer trying to keep contact between their bodies as they kissed. Groaning as she started to suck on his tongue, John found it hard to keep his hands in one place, starting off in her hair, they slowly made their way down her neck, and over her chest earning him a slight moan from the cyborg. Finally they rested on her ass, gripping hard he pulled her body up, feeling her smile as she ground her body against them, John's hand started to travel up her stomach, in the back of his mind he was aware that her skin was warm under his hand.

"Hey is there anyone in there?" a banging at the door followed the question, with reluctance John pulled away from Cameron, shocked to see the slightly flushed look on her face as she kept her arms around his neck and legs around his waist. Turning his head to the door, he could only hope that whoever was out there would just go away. "Come on, this is the only cupboard this floor." Came more of a whine this time. Toying with the idea to let Cameron go out there and kill whoever was on the other side seemed like the best idea right now, untangling her limps from around him, a dishevelled John walked over to the door, shoving the box out of his way as he opened the door; a menacing glare etched on his face.

"What!?" he asked staring at the other male, the reason he wanted the cupboard was clear as the girl from his class who made jokes about machines turning evil stood at his side. Looking them up and down on disgust for wanting the cupboard for the very thing they stopped him doing. He was about to tell them to go away and close the door on them, when Cameron walked past him and out of the door; giving them a fiercer gaze then he had. Following her down the corridor feeling the looks from students they passed aware of the looks the two of them were getting, "Cam," he looked grabbing hold of her hand as it swung back slightly. Her reaction wasn't what he expected either, spinning around she pushed him against the locker behind him. Eyes trained on his before dropping to his mouth for a second,

"I'm tired of interruptions." She said before turning and walking away again, having no clue what was with her sudden change of attitude John only let out an annoyed sigh. Eyes darting back to the storage cupboard, he walked in the same direction Cameron had gone, only he turned earlier and threw the door to the male bathroom open. Filling the sink with cold water before scooping it up and covering his face with it. Staring at his reflection he had no idea what was going on anymore, last night had annoyed him to no end when they got home, but what happened minutes before had sent his brain into a nose dive. He was pretty sure that she had kissed him this time because she wanted to, she had near enough told him that. Laughing slightly thinking of her last spoken words, she thinks she's tired of interruptions, he was male, how easy did she think it was for him to have her tongue down his throat and rubbing up against him one minute and the next having to stop and walk out like nothing had happened.

Shaking his head in disbelief as he could only think about what his mum would say, or rather do if she ever found out what had happened. The results wouldn't be pretty, Cameron melted down to scrap metal and him being castrated. Leaving the bathroom in a better state then when he walked in, John tried his best to walk at a normal pace, the art class that Cameron had twice a week was the only lesson that they didn't share, and he knew if he didn't get into his next class soon, there was a good chance that she'd kill someone for talking to her.

Pushing the door to the class open he took a quick look around and saw that most seats had already been taken, mainly the seats either side of Cameron. Walking past his Terminator protector and he really wasn't sure what else she was right now, John dropped into a seat three rows behind her and one of the left, a small smile formed on his face when she turned around to see where he was going to sit. From the look she was giving the student to her left, it looked like she was ready to throw him across the room to allow John to sit near her. In no mood to watch a blood bath in his class, John shook his head seeing her looking at him again.

Giving the male to her side one last scathing glare, Cameron turned her head to look directly at the front of the class. The night before she had decided she enjoyed kissing John, and even Sarah telling her to not kiss anyone hadn't stopped her, the question that was on her mind now though was why did she enjoy kissing him? In the future the affection John showed her, while being more than he showed anyone else was hard to describe, she knew that in that time he did care for her but it seemed that Judgement day and loosing everyone and everything he held dear had made it harder for him to show it. Giving her charge a covert glace from over her shoulder to see what he was doing, feeling her gaze on him John picked his head up from his notepad, knowing he couldn't go all day without writing a single note, his mum would no doubt find out. The two kept each other's gaze for as long as they could.

"Miss Baum." The teacher said dropping a thick pad onto her the trying to make her jump, merely turning around and looking up at him, unable to actually be startled by anything. "If you've finished staring at Mr Connor, perhaps you can start the work I wrote on the board." He continued snidely, looking up briefly from his table John tried to hide both the redness of his cheeks and the smile, both for different reasons. He wasn't happy about the teacher bringing the attention to him, but also the fact that Cameron had been caught staring at him.

"Is that you're girlfriend?" the girl next to him asked, turning to look at her, John took in her appearance. Tanned complexion, black hair, and almost disarming smile. "I'm Marianna," she introduced herself still smiling. Nodding slightly he turned away, he wasn't going to start making conversation with someone whose first question was, 'is that you're girlfriend.' "So is she?" she asked again staring at him with a smile on her face, if the answer was no then the day just got so much more interesting.

"I'm not sure," John replied honestly, did Cameron even know what a girlfriend was? Having been looking at either the cyborg further up the class or the board he missed the smile that formed on her face. John wasn't in any mood for question that might concern either him or Cameron, sighing slightly to himself at the fact that he had only wrote three lines and spent the rest of the time either absently looking at the board, or at Cameron his mind going back to what happened earlier on after she dragged him into the cupboard.

Snapping out of his daze when the teacher told them they could leave, standing up and throwing the notepad once again into his pad John walked out of the class smiling at Cameron as she frowned, the male sitting near her wasn't moving as quick as she wanted him to.

"If she isn't your girlfriend," Marianna started walking up to John outside the class, rolling his eyes with his back turned to her, John slowly turned around to see what she wanted. "She won't care if I give you my number." She finished slipping the piece of paper into his jeans pocket and walking away, watching her walk away John looked back towards the door and saw Cameron standing there eyes narrowed in the direction Marianna went. He was sure that at least for a second her eyes turned blue as she glared at the retreating form of the other girl, slowly her head turned to look at him.

"She handed you a piece of paper," she said before her own hand slipped into his pocket, taking the paper with the phone number on out and tossing it onto the floor. "She could become a threat," she answered his silent question, laughing at her possessiveness the pair started walking back towards the main doors.

Making their way towards the table they sat at the day before, John wasn't really sure what he could say. Within a day Cameron had gone from his Terminator protector and possibly friend to something else, and he wasn't sure just what that was, and he didn't think Cameron would be able to help him figure this out even if it did concern her.

"She would be a suitable partner." Cameron spoke breaking the silence, looking up at her John could see there was a slight worry and hesitancy to her words and it could be seen in her eyes. "If you wished she could become invaluable in the future and it would be wise for you to acquire her help by any means." She added quieter, having known what she was talking about and meant when she started, John was about to assure her he had no want or need to start anything with Marianna. The words died on his tongue though as he looked into her brown eyes seeking his word that he wasn't going to leave with another female. Reaching across the table, his hand covered her much smaller one.

Before he could do anything else, the sound of sirens filled the air. His head snapping in the direction that the noise came, John watched as several police cars pulled up on one side of the school grounds, too many for it to be some type of demonstration. Seeing Cameron watching the police climb out of the cars heavily dressed in protective clothing, John kept his eyes on the main group of officers stunned as they seemingly turned in his direction and pointed. Lowering his body from view to make it seem like he was tying his lace, John poked Cameron on the leg forcing her to lower her body as well staring at him in confusion.

"When I say, we'll have to make a run for it. Get to the other exit and try to put as much distance between us and them." Seeing her merely stare at him, complete trust in her eyes, John shifted off of his seat keeping his body low. "Now." He whispered before sprinting off, following him less than a second as he straightened his body out. Darting in-between tables with all the grace of his Terminator next to him, this was second nature to John, all the years living off the grid and on the run with his mum, always fleeing a faceless enemy.

"FREEZE!" an officer shouted as John jumped on top of a table, running across the wood hoping to avoid any students that would try to grab hold of him. Throwing himself through the air, and landing on the grass a split second before a gun was fired, the tiny metal bullet penetrating the table he had been on. Having heard the shot, Cameron spun around to make sure he was ok, seeing that John had once again started to run she kept herself moving at his speed and to the side of him at all times.

Darting through the metal gate that marked the exit of the school, Cameron turned and her eyes widened watching John being tackled to the floor by three officers. Her primary objective started to flash madly seeing him being attacked like that, taking a step towards them her eyes stayed glued to John's as he stared at her from his position half face down on the grass.

"NO!" he cried out to her knowing what she was going to do, "Go." He said hoping she'd just turn and leave, none of the officers had gone near her and didn't seem interested in anything she did. "GO!" he yelled the second time, keeping her eyes on his for a few seconds longer, Cameron turned and ran back out of the gates knowing full well he wanted her to keep herself safe. Hands secured behind his back as the handcuffs were put on him, John was dragged back to his feet, before the officers half helped half dragged him across the school grounds back to where the cars had been left.

Showing no emotion as he was thrown into the back seat of the car, John ignored the students that quickly piled out of the school to get a good look at him. Looking out of the window, two things caught his eye; firstly Cameron coming around the corner and staring at the car he was in, he knew that her scan would allow her to know where he was so he kept staring at her for a second, the second thing he noticed was the figure standing near the far end of the school wall; a long coat with the hood up covered their face but John was sure that they were looking right at him.

Slouching in the car seat, he couldn't believe it. He could survive numerous attacks on his life by Terminators sent through time, but he'd been caught by a group of under paid over worked traffic guards, it would have been funny if he weren't so angry about that fact. A snort left his body watching buildings fly past, he knew that if he hadn't stopped Cameron she would have killed every police officer for tackling him to the floor, that wasn't laying low anymore then being arrested for something that happened over eight years ago.

Getting out the car with no help, John felt the glares aimed at the back of his head by the three officers that were in the car with him before being pushed towards the building. If he'd been thinking the way that his mum had trained him, he would have been worried that this was a trap and tried to run away from the cops even with him being handcuffed. Allowing them to lead, or rather push him in the direction they needed him to go in, being stopped outside a door and not a cell John turned to look at the officers.

"Get in," one of the officers told him, shaking his head slightly as he walked into the room John still had a hard time believing that this had just happened. Stopping for a second, seeing someone already in there staring at him from their seat behind a small table.

"Mr Connor we finally meet," the male said signalling for him to take the seat opposite as he dropped a folder onto the table, "or should I call you Mr Bam," another folder was dropped, "how about Mr Resse." And a third, "I'm agent Ellison, I work with the FBI." John made no effort to show he was taking in what he was told as he kept his eyes on the man in front of him, briefly looking down at the folders. "You can see what we've been gathering a lot of information on you, starting with your mother's capture and incarceration in a psychiatric facility. Being placed in foster care, you rebelled against the chance of a normal life, you received a police record at an extremely early age. Trespassing, shoplifting, disturbing the peace and vandalism, were just some of the offences you committed before you and one other person broke your mother out of the facility and then blew up Cyberdyne killing Miles Dyson." He read out, sounding like he'd been reading this information for a long time, giving the fact that they jumped eight years into the future John guessed that he must have had a lot of time on his hands.

"I want my phone call," John replied, not fazed in the least by the folders in front of him, after years of being told what his life would hold for him a few shoplifting charges from before he even knew what was coming meant nothing.

"Why to phone Sarah?" Ellison asked before continuing, "Until 1999 you were pretty hard to track, never staying in one place for long. Until you moved to Red Valley Texas, she fell in love and you enrolled in the school if only for a few days." Turning away from him, John didn't need to hear this he already knew what happened. "Someone posing as a teacher got in the school and shot at you, _killed_ another student as you threw yourself out of a window. And here's where things start to get interesting, nineteen students in that class all saw that the shooter had some type of robot leg. And the girl he _killed_ just got right back up and ran out the door. Doesn't that strike you as odd?" he asked seeing the unfazed look on John's face, at hearing the part of the robot leg at least.

Shrugging his shoulders slightly, John turned to look at the door behind him. From what he could tell the FBI agent had no gun but experience told him things were never as they appeared, but in theory if he could get him off guard then he'd be able to flee.

"The next day, you, your mother and a girl matching the description of the victim who just stood back up broke into a bank." He continued seeing that John wasn't going to give him an answer to the question, this time a picture from the banks security camera's was dropped in front of him, Cameron holding the gun at the teller. "After locking yourself into a vault the three of you, and an unnamed, unknown fourth person blew yourself up. Case closed the Connor's were gone. The only thing was no body, of any of you." Walking away from the table Ellison slowly pulled a t.v video combo out from one of the corners and popped a tape into it. "Until last week, this footage was shown everywhere." Turning his head, John watched the tape from what must have been taken from the boys phone in the car, he only hoped that it wasn't clear to everyone else his eyes travelled down Cameron's naked back. "After eight years the three of you emerge on a highway naked, and you haven't aged a day. You should be twenty three and you don't look older then seventeen. Then all crazy shit starts happening, things that don't make sense anymore than this does. A body turned up, only feet from where you were seen, completely skinned, then another this one missing a head. Are you telling me you have no answers for me?" he asked veins throbbing in his head and neck.

Hearing the end of the statement, John tried to mask his expression into disinterest even if his blood had ran cold, he knew it could mean only one thing. A terminator. Either the one that had attacked him at the mall and Cameron destroyed or another one was out there possibly searching for him.

The sounds of gun shots stopped either of them saying anything, eyes widening with the knowledge of what could be out there, John was regretting not trying to escape as soon as he got out of the car, or even letting Cameron free him.

"You have to get me out of here." He told Ellison turning around to look at the aging FBI agent, the look he was met with told him that there was no way he was getting out of here. "Listen to me, you have to get me out of here NOW!" he shouted hearing the shots coming louder, he knew there was a chance that it was Cameron and his mum coming seeing as how the gunfire was coming closer and closer, but there was also the chance that it was something not so great. As suddenly as the shots started they stopped again, giving Ellison a cautious look as he moved to the door, John nearly leapt out of his seat as it was kicked open and a single figure walked in.

A single shot was fired into the FBI agent's knee dropping him to the floor, as the gun he tried to reach for was kicked out of his hands. Slowly the figure walked over to John, grabbing hold of the handcuffs, he placed his gun against it and blew them apart.

"John Connor, come with me if you want to live."

--

Since having arrived home without John, Cameron and Sarah had been preparing to go and get him back. The first ten minutes had been the Terminator being verbally abused by Sarah for not doing everything she could to get John away even if he had told her to leave, it was only the knowledge that her son might have said that to keep the truth from the rest of the world which stopped her from turning Cameron into a piece of shiny metal and selling her.

"When we get to the police station, you keep them busy while I go and ge" her sentence was cut off by her son and another male bursting through the front door. "John." Sarah finished before wrapping her arms around her sons neck. The reunion was missed by the other two people standing in the room, as John's saviour kept his eyes glued to Cameron glaring at her with unbridled hatred.

"Metal bitch." He spat out, pulling his gun out from behind his back he took aim at Cameron. Having heard what was spoken John started to turn around when he saw the gun coming out, acting on reflexes alone his hand shot out and grabbed hold of the gun before a shot could be fired. "What the fuck is your problem, it's a metal. She'll kill you." He said glaring at John.

"My problem," John repeated staring at him in disbelief, he might have been grateful for getting him out of the police station but that didn't mean he was just going to let people shoot at Cameron. "You're the one who just pulled a gun out," he continued, watching what was happening and pleased he was back and safe Cameron moved forwards, touching John on his back lightly before she started to walk towards the kitchen. "We'll talk about this later." He muttered before following his cyborg protector out, leaving his mum with his for lack of a better term other protector.

Smiling at his mum as he past, John had no idea what Cameron wanted with him, or even if she did want anything he might have mistaken it for something when it wasn't. Taking one final look behind him at his mum alternating between looking at the newcomer and his retreating form, turning back to the way he was going he nearly got cyborg-jumped. Arms wrapped around his waist for a brief second as she laid a small kiss on his mouth before, he turned to look back over his shoulder.

"You're arrest seems to have given the female body at school a stronger desire for you," she told him, now stepping away slightly, tilting his head to the side now sure why she was bringing this up now. "One girl said that she would like to buy a ticket for your ride, I wasn't aware that you owned a ride."


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: This story was only meant to have been created as something to be done in my spare time between other stories and work. But the reviews have changed my mind into continuing the story on a longer basis

_Watching John with the machine, it was suddenly so clear. The terminator wouldn't stop, it would never leave him. It would never hurt him or shout at him or get drunk and hit him or say it was too busy to spend time with him. And it would die to protect him. Of all the would-be fathers that came over the years, this thing, this machine, was the only thing that measured up. In an insane world, it was the sanest choice._

Sarah Connor.

--

Having watched her son follow the Terminator without so much as a backwards glance confused Sarah, she knew that since coming to the future they had bonded more so then she would have liked but with no one else there for John to be able to talk to it seemed inevitable. That said alarm bells went off in her mind understanding that there had to have been something the pair didn't want to discuss around her or the newcomer.

"John," she called out keeping an eye on the male, who had been glaring in the direction that Cameron had walked in, "we need to talk about what happened at school." she continued not getting a reply off of her son. Seconds later footsteps signalled the future saviour of mankind's entry back into the medium sized lounge, a small smirk on his face as he turned away from looking into the kitchen, forming the emotionless mask that had been perfected over years of being dragged from place to place. Raising her eyebrow at her son, Sarah now knew he was hiding something from her, he might have been able to trick a lot of people, but having been the one person who taught and enforced the importance of not letting anyone get close to him; she saw through it right away.

Standing next to the doorway that led to the kitchen John didn't know who to look at, his mum or the man that had saved him from the police station, and then tried to shoot Cameron. He thought that it would have been explained by his cyborg protector what happened when she turned up without him; the police had obviously caught wind of someone using the name John Connor and decided to jump on it, the fact he was meant to have died eight years ago in a bank vault didn't hold any meaning to them. Finally deciding to turn to his mum, John stared at her waiting for her to be the first to say something seeing as she'd been the one to call him out of the kitchen, he was slightly glad for that fact on some small part of his mind; it was becoming harder to know just how to act around Cameron and then try to seem like nothing had happened.

"I told you to use the name I came up with," anger now filling Sarah's voice told him that this wasn't going to be a friendly conversation, just like how she found out about his criminal record after trying to destroy Skynet years ago wasn't. "You went into school and signed up with Connor as your surname, there are machines everywhere trying to kill you and you just painted a giant bull's-eye on your back. What if it had been a Terminator that turned up and not the police?" she continued not letting him get a word in. Just standing there watching the saviour of the world get torn down by his mum, Derek couldn't stop the smile on his face; he knew that the chances of him getting back to his own time were slim, but if he ever managed it then he'd have fun telling everyone about this. "And then when you're being arrested you tell Cameron to not help you."

"They're going to come for me anyway." John cut in as quick as he could seeing her taking a breath, it seemed to be enough to stop whatever Sarah was going to say next as she just looked at him not knowing what he meant. "Cameron told us," ignoring the half snort from the unknown male at saying her name John continued. "That even if they have another mission they all know what to do if they find me. I can't spend the rest of my life running if I have to become this hero." The end statement earned him a regretful look from his Sarah, it was the unspoken fact that had plagued them every since Cyberdyne, deep down neither of them had ever thought Skynet had been stopped years ago. Cameron and Cromartie's arrival had only pushed that point onto them further. Judgement day can't be stopped; he just had to live to it.

Silence filled the house as the three people and one Terminator now having walking into the lounge herself, allowed that single statement to filter into their minds. Neither Sarah, Cameron nor Derek who after watching John stop him from shooting Cameron had stayed silent knew what to say next.

"And who _are_ you?" John asked now turning to look at Derek apparently only just remembering he was even there after his mum had started on her rant, following her son's gaze to the slightly beat up and scruffy male who was once again looking at the cyborg protector like he wanted to destroy her any second now.

"Derek Reese," a mechanical voice spoke forcing the attention to change once again possibly giving either Connor whiplash the amount of times they had spun in another directon, "older brother of Kyle Reese sent back with four other resistance soldiers as a spider faction to help protect John Connor in this time if I had been destroyed in 1999 either before meeting him or after trying to keep him safe." Hearing the name Reese both John and Sarah's eyes snapped to each other, something that was caught by the other two in the room and yet they stayed silent. The fact that in the future he had sent the remaining Reese male to keep him safe seemed like an odd move after knowing full well he sent Kyle to his death to ensure he was born. "Your uncle." Cameron finished looking at John, waiting for his reaction unsure on just how he'd react to the news, having been told by his future self just how much it affected him, knowingly sending his father back.

"Just like a metal to come up with that," Derek finally spoke anger in his voice as he directed his statement at Cameron before turning his attention to John. "You never said in the future that you jumped through time, I was expecting you to be twenty three. But seeing you and _it_ on the news I knew something had gone wrong," ignoring the fact that Sarah had been shown on the t.v. after the trio had jumped forward eight years, as well as the fact he referred to Cameron as an it Derek didn't stop. "We were sent just before you gave the metal her mission, but the rest of my group was killed by one of them waiting for us."

Not knowing what to say in reply to that, John's eyes flashed between the other three in the room hoping one of them would speak first, he was still trying to come to terms with the fact that he'd sent another family member back to their seeming unstoppable death, just to make sure that he'd live. Was that really the man he wanted to become? Someone that would so willingly send his family to their death to ensure that he'd live, and the fact they didn't have a problem with do it either said that at the very least they didn't know they were family or trusted him enough to do so without another word. Ready to turn and leave needing to have some time to himself, John spun on his heel. Not even making three steps before there was a single solid knock at the door.

"It's the police," Sarah said, quickly having made her way over to the window before turning to look at her son and Derek who were now staring back at her now knowing what to do. "Go." She whispered, with instincts honed from different experiences but with the same need for avoidance both John and Derek darted through the kitchen and towards the back of the house. Following his nephew that was technically born before him and the teens dad, Derek watched as he opened his bedroom window slightly before helping him out of it, throwing himself out seconds later before the pair darted towards the shelter that the bushes around the house provided waiting for their next move. Waiting until she could no longer hear them, Sarah opened the front door trying to put a welcoming smile on her face as Cameron hung around in the background.

"Sorry to disturb you miss," one of the officers at the door spoke looking down at Sarah, "Is this the Connor residence?" he asked looking down at the paper he had in his hands before looking up once again seeing Sarah shaking her head in reply.

"No, this isn't. I'm Sarah Baum, and my daughter Cameron," she indicated to the machine before looking at the officer. "Why?"

"I see," the officer muttered looking back at his companions that were standing at the bottom of the short path. "We had someone at the local high-school called John Connor give this house in as his home address. He's wanted for a number of criminal activities the worst of which was classed as a terrorist attack on a facility a few years ago. We managed to arrest him not too long ago but someone broke him out of the station we had him in." Tilting his head to the side, perhaps for the first time noticing Cameron standing in the house looking back at him, emotionless the officer slowly walked down the path towards his re-enforcement.

Turning to look at the terminator hoping that neither John or Derek had turned back up and were seen, Sarah had no idea what had casued the reaction. Seeing Cameron making her way over to the door, her face morphing into the complete opposite then the one John's had earlier when she called him in, now looking like a teenage girl who was shocked by what was happening. Sarah was confused by the fact that that she looked like she was showing genuine emotion, something she had never seen from one of them before. Slowly the officer walked back towards the pair of females, a curious expression on his face.

"Excuse me, but you were at the school today with John Connor weren't you?" the officer asked now directing his question to Cameron, her eyes widening slightly making her looked worried about being spoken to by the officer she nodded slowly. "If you don't mind me asking, what's your relationship with John Connor?" feeling Sarah staring at her, no doubt ready to change her expression on whatever the answer was that Cameron gave, able to replay everything that had happened between the two of them for the past few days a small smile formed on her face; almost a mirror image of the one she gave John in 1999 when she asked if she'd see him later.

"He's my boyfriend," she replied after a few seconds, not having expected that answer Sarah's eyes narrowed on the back of Cameron's head. The answer seemed to come as fact for the cyborg almost as if she didn't have to think about it, which might be the impression the pair gave off while at school, John wasn't the most socially open person and with the Terminator having to protect him the two of them would be around each other a lot of the time. "We only started dating a few days ago," she continued adding an almost wistful tone to her voice, which would be common from someone who had just started a relationship.

"Err," the officer didn't seem to know what to say at this point, coughing slightly behind his hand. "It's understandable that you had no idea about his past then," the fact he was still running around as a teenager instead of someone that was meant to be in his twenties wasn't something either woman needed to know, especially since the officer didn't know just why that was himself. "It's be best if you avoided contact with him at all costs then, we doubt that he'll turn back up at the school but he might try to make contact with you. If he does we'd like for you to phone us on this number and give us as much information as possible on what he said or wanted." He concluded handing both of them a card, before turning and leaving the path.

Closing the door behind them, Sarah glared at Cameron who had walked further into the room apparently not knowing that the older woman was looking at her not for the first time like she wanted to melt her down. Stopping halfway into the room before turning around, Cameron's face was once again void of any emotion she showed to the officer at the door, staring back at Sarah with the same curiosity that was usually in her eyes.

"Did you need to say John was your boyfriend?" she asked taking a step forward, if she were able to feel fear Cameron might have taken a step back, being able to sense the anger and rage coming off of the older woman's body in waves. "Why come up with that lie, why not say you were friends that met at school?" she asked now staring into the machines eyes, having to tilt her head up slightly due to the small size difference between the pair.

"It was the most believable thing to tell them, there would already be rumours around the school dictating the level of our relationship as John has not reached out to another student." The half lie was enough to give Sarah, she was aware that the older woman didn't like her and there was no reason to tell her what had happened between them until John said so. She knew that there were times when he didn't know what to think of her never mind what his mum would do if she knew about the changes between the two of them.

Unknown to either female, both John and Derek had climbed in back through the window after watching the police leave and had caught most of the conversation between the two of them, having been stunned when he heard Cameron had called him her boyfriend even to the police merely as a lie; he forced himself to push that small spark of pride in his chest back down, it wasn't the time or the place. Derek's reaction had been much darker while as silent, he had already witnessed glimpses of the closeness between the two of them in the future, as his personal guard Cameron had spent a lot of time alone in his quarters when John was in there; and it had caused a lot of confusion as to why he trusted a terminator so much; especially one that had tried to kill him. This worry however was never brought up when older models were sent back, perhaps the fact that they were male versions of the terminator model being sent to either a child or teenage male gave all resistance fighters the knowledge that John wouldn't develop feelings for it the way he seemed to for Cameron.

"What's going on?" John asked announcing his presence even if he knew full well what was going on, watching his mum to see just what she was going to do, he wasn't surprised when she turned and walked past both he and Derek throwing Cameron a final glare. Turning to look at the Terminator, who no doubt had seen a teenager throw a strop followed the older woman's move and slammed her bedroom door, not strong enough to cause damage but to prove her point. Unable to stop the small laugh that tore free John turned to look at Derek who himself was trying to fight off a smirk, not so much at what Cameron had done but perhaps the absurdity of what passed as a normal life. "I mightn't have to face a war yet, but I do have a pissed off mum and surprisingly pissed off Terminator protector." John said moving further into the room and taking a seat on the couch, curtains been closed back over by Derek as he made sure there were no more police around the house.

"I know now why you cry, but it's something I can never do." The older man whispered however the silence in the room allowed him to be heard perfectly by John, who nearly sprang up from his slouched position on the couch staring at him in shock. "The first time you became close to a terminator, one of the older models; a T-800. That was what it told you before letting Sarah lower it into the lava. You told me that you ordered it not to leave." The slightly mocking tone that was in his uncle's voice stabbed John like a knife, the fact that it happened when he was eight years old didn't seem to matter. "You shouldn't bond with them John, they hunt us and they want you dead. They'll kill you one day." Standing up from the couch and throwing the older male, who he wasn't sure if he were born yet stood, John left the lounge; his own bedroom door opening and then closing at a lower tone then Cameron's.

Shrugging off his nephew's dismal and what seemed to be ignoring his warning, Derek dropped himself onto the couch that John had been sitting on. He had voiced his worry about his nephew's affection towards the machines something that would carry over into the war, something that he wanted to try and stop now, he hadn't been told if Cameron would still be around in 2007 and seeing her was a shock. Almost feather like footsteps alerted him to someone walking through the kitchen, as light as they were a normal person might have dismissed them, simply thinking they had heard something that wasn't there; but years of running from machines designed to either kill or enslave and throw humans into concentration camps had honed Derek's senses, telling him exactly what was in there.

Standing in the doorway a sense of deep and eternal loathing filled his body, walking around the small square kitchen, Cameron raised herself up slightly picking a glass from the cupboard before filling it with water, obviously having sensed Derek there but chose to ignore his presence like she often did in the future. That was one of the other things which enraged the resistance fighter, Connor was the only one she would either listen to or even acknowledge even when she was placed on a mission without him, the metal refused to act like there were other fighters there with her. Something that when Derek brought to John's attention often amused the leader of mankind, having commented once that Derek was acting like a child trying to get attention off of a girl he had a crush on. That comment created a fight between the pair, resulting John breaking his uncle's forearm with a single swing of the gun they had dubbed _hope_ when Derek said Sarah would be sick if she could see how close he was to a machine.

"You act like you're human, but you're not. You're just metal." Turning to look at the resistance fighter, Cameron's brown eyes slammed into Derek's; a battle of wills between what might have been called John Connor's most trusted two commanders. However the male was unable to go forever and a day without blinking and in the end had to, it seemed to be enough for Cameron who after watching him blink turned away once again. "You might be able to trick him, now, in the future fuck even if he has to send you back again; a sweet little smile, widen your eyes or pout. But you can't trick me, you are just a metal like the rest of them. John might have switched your chip to protect him, but you'll go bad, he'll see."

"There's a reason John trusts me more than any other resistance fighter," Cameron spoke her quiet voice filling the kitchen stopping Derek in his tracks as he was ready to head back into the lounge. "Both you and Sarah would give up your lives to make sure he survived, but I'd kill you both to make sure he lived." Walking out of the kitchen the near impossible to hear pitter patter of her feet across the tilted floor before they hit the carpet, not having moved after hearing the comment she made. Derek merely continued staring at the spot she had stood in. Maybe for the first time, he now understood why John insisted on sending Terminator's back to save him, the comment the metal bitch had gave him showed just how single minded they were when given a mission and to the lengths they would go to ensure it was successful.

Laying on his bed, John was not for the first time going over everything that had happened that day, but for the first time it was actually a happier day then others in recent memory. Apart from being arrested in front of the entire school after a failed escape. With his bedroom still being slightly open, a shadow was cast in his room signalling someone was standing on the other side of his door, out of the three people who were now in the house with him there was only one he guessed who would wait until he spoke before entering his room.

"You can come in," John called out keeping his face on his pillow watching as Cameron walked into his room, holding a glass of water. With a grace that was unnatural from a human, the terminator placed the glass on the floor next to his bed before joining him on it, if anyone actually took the time to watch how she moved John was sure they'd know something wasn't right. She never favoured one side more then another, like a person might while they walk; as well as the fact that if a pavement flag was raised slightly and she caught the front of her foot on it there wouldn't be a slightly stumble. Her CPU and clearly advanced design wouldn't allow for it, after all how effective a killing machine would a Terminator be, if they had either of these extremely small flaws that a human possessed. "So today was fun." John spoke trying to fill the silence, this was the one thing that he couldn't wrap his head around no matter how hard he tried. Sending his dad back in time to save his mum and make sure he's conceived sure, send terminators back in time to either kill or protect him no problem. But Cameron was something that just didn't make sense, yes she was a Terminator, but had often and freely showed him just how different she was to the other models, eating food was the most obvious and then there was her kissing him.

"Watching you get arrested wasn't fun," she replied repositioning her body so her legs and lower back were resting across John's legs and the rest of her own body was hanging upside down off of his bed. Turning to see just what she was doing,John found he had to quickly advert his gaze seeing her shirt ride up revealing too much of her skin for him when his mum and uncle were both in the house and had problems with the terminator. He didn't want to think what their reactions would be, and luckily for him with her laying across him like that it was relatively easy for him to not think about their reactions, swallowing hard and then licking his lips John tried to think of anything other than just how far he could see down her shirt while she was like that. It wasn't his fault and he hardly thought you could blame him, if you didn't know that Cameron was a Terminator from the future and you had her laying over you the way she was him, he was pretty sure any straight teenage male would be thinking the same things he was right then. "What we were doing in the storage cupboard was fun." She added, unintentionally turning his head to look at her again after Cameron made that comment. John could do nothing as she raised her body back up showing once again that unnatural grace, leaving her face centimetres from his own.


	10. Chapter 10

Staring at her, John's heart began to race. Could he honestly stop what was happening between him and Cameron? He knew that he felt something for the Terminator that seemed to be more human with each passing day if he were around, and with that fact came the knowledge that there was an extremely good chance they would end up having sex if things were allowed to continue. Normally that wouldn't worry a fifteen year old teenager; here was probably one of the best looking females he'd ever seen, who no doubt was interested in him. The problem was that this _female_ was really a cyborg from the future whose mission had been to kill him, before she had been reprogrammed and sent back.

So caught up in his thoughts, John didn't notice Cameron cock her head to the side as she stared at him, the sudden inactivity had confused her. She was sure that her comment was meant to have been followed with the act of doing what she had mentioned, _kissing_ more importantly them kissing. Perhaps she shouldn't have said it, and merely done it when her body rose back into a sitting position, her CPU was able to calculate the probabilities of what would happen if she did so now, and with the past two experiences behind her results when she had kissed him; so with that thought firmly in the chips that made up her brain, the female Terminator's hand went forward laying on John's chest as her face started to close the distance between them.

"John," came the voice of his uncle, before the door was carelessly tossed open. The two people and one cyborg all froze as they took in what was happening. The metal was half sitting on his nephew, its legs over John's and now one hand on the front of his top like it had been pulling him closer. Just why it had been doing that, Derek refused to think about; even to him it was clear that it was posing no threat at the minute which could only leave one conclusion that the resistance fighter didn't like. "What the fuck did I just walk in on" he snarled out, there was no way what he knew looked like it was going to happen, was going to happen. So confused by the suddenness of his uncle having appeared, John hadn't moved a muscle and it seemed Cameron wasn't going to take either her legs or hand off of him. Slowly much like a child with their hand in the cookie jar, John peeled Cameron's hand from the front of his shirt feeling no resistance in her, it was the signal that she needed; her eyes staying on John for a few seconds Cameron turned and left the room.

"Nothing happened," John was quick to point out to the older male when the door was shut, so sure he was caught in a compromising situation with her; a voice in his head was telling him that if he had just been caught with a human girl then a different conversation would have been taking place, one that could have ended with a congratulations. "She's meant to protect me; she just came in to make sure I was ok after everything that happened today." If he was able to say that with enough conviction then he just might be able to convince his uncle it was true, however as busy as he was thanking whatever god that was up there that Derek didn't walk in a few seconds earlier and caught Cameron's last comment, or even a few seconds later; having little doubt to what would have happened between them. Frowning down at his nephew, Derek didn't know what to do or say. Telling Sarah was definitely something that he could do, but at the same time he was here to help make sure John lived; if he was going to try and get his trust then this had to stay between them. With a slightly bitter smile, he turned and walked out of the room; under the belief that having been caught once this wouldn't happen again.

Letting out the breath he hadn't known he was holding in, John couldn't believe that for all purposes he had just gotten away with that. You would had to have been blind to buy the response that was given to you; especially when the question was first asked and neither John nor Cameron moved. With his heart racing for a different reason this time, he now knew for a fact that there was little to no chance of him telling Cameron; just what he had been about to. The chances are she would have done her little scan on him anyway and found out he was lying to her, but a contradicting thought entered his head. Would it truly be wrong for him to tell her that this had to end between them? After all he was _John Connor_ as he mum liked to point out every day, and she was a Terminator, the very thing that he would have to fight against and what wanted to kill him more then anything. Closing his eyes over as he tried to come up with an answer, John could see her smiling face staring back at him; which was quickly followed by what her lips and tongue tasted like and how she felt against him.

If he had thought with Cameron and then Derek no longer in his room, that he'd be able to rest then John was proven wrong. A single knock on his door, told him that there was more to come before he was able to have any time to himself, however much like when the older male knocked on the door. This time it was Sarah walking into his bedroom, a quick blast of worry filled John, his mind coming up with different scenarios each were she had just been told what almost happened with Cameron; but the look on his mums face told him she didn't know, or was rather waiting for the right time to blow up on him.

"We need to talk," Sarah told her son, causing fear to fill his body as his mum sat on the edge of his bed. "Maybe you were right with what you did at school. They're going to keep coming for you anyway, and no matter what we do they always find you; making you use a fake name won't change that. No more John Baum or John Reese, you can just be John Connor." He knew that this was some type of peace offering from their talk earlier on; smiling at her in reply John knew that this couldn't have been the only thing his mum wanted from him. "We need to talk together now." Sarah added standing up and walking out of the room, not knowing jus what she was talking about; John watched her walk away before she jerked her head at the door.

Following his mum out of the room, John had no idea just what it was that she thought they needed to talk about in a group. Apart from her admitting that just maybe he should be allowed to be who he was he didn't think there was anything else to discuss and it was hardly something that either Derek or Cameron needed to be told, it'd be hard to hide when he stated to use his real name more and more. Walking into the living room, the other two members of their bizarre quartet sat; the tension so thick it felt like it was choking you. Even with them in the room, Derek was unable to stop himself from glaring murderously at Cameron's head, even if the Terminator didn't seem to know, more interested in watching John.

"After today," Sarah started like she was in an office talking to a boardroom full of workers, "John won't be going back to the school, it's too dangerous for him with the police arresting him. They'll will be looking for him and there's a good chance that they'll try the school." eyes snapping to his mum, John couldn't believe he had heard what she just said, he wasn't going back to the school. Experience had taught him that could only mean one thing; they were getting ready to leave again. "Tin miss will go back to the school, using the excuse she didn't know about John's past. She'll be used as a lookout for us; we can't run again, they'll find us anyway." She finished looking at her son. If they'd fell silent hearing that they wouldn't be running again, John and Derek were comatose, the resistance fighter thought it would be best for them to leave to protect John, and the teen couldn't believe that his mum had listened to him; Cameron on the other hand had merely stared curiously as Sarah spoke.

Not knowing what else to do now that the news had been dropped, John stared at his mum before a small smile formed on his face, for the first time in his life when things had gone wrong he wasn't being dragged around. Leaving the room, he didn't turn around to look at the other occupants in the room, still he wasn't sure why his mum couldn't tell him on his own; really it didn't involve any of them, once the decision was made there was nothing Cameron or Derek could do realistically.

Deciding against laying back down on his bed, John almost collapsed into his seat. The events of the day had finally caught up to him, getting arrested was stressful without having to worry if the police officer questioning you was really a machine from the future that wanted to kill you. Placing his head in his hands, he didn't hear the soft click of his bedroom door being opened; nor the near silent footsteps making their way over to him. Nearly jumping out of his skin when soft fingers touched the back of his neck, spinning in his chair; he should have known that it would have been Cameron staring down at him.

"Shit, make a noise when you walk." John said, not for the first time he thought his heart could be heard beating by other people. Calming his breathing back down, he had expected Cameron to do or say something but she was just standing there looking down at him. Turning his head up to stare into her brown eyes, John had no idea why she was just watching him; there was a lack of something he couldn't place in her eyes that had been there for the past few days, she was looking more like when he had first found out what she was. "What?" he asked now becoming unnerved by her silence, he couldn't remember when she had last just watched him unless they were both doing something, and thought he couldn't sense it.

"Derek has a suspicion about us." Cameron replied after a further silence between them, slightly pleased that she was talking at least John already knew that Derek had an idea something was happening or would be; he and his uncle seemed to have the entire conversation with just their eyes. "There is a seventy percent probability that he will mention this to Sarah, would you prefer if it were ended?" she asked, for the first time since she had spoke to him since coming back into his room, John had seen and heard emotion from her. Her brown eyes seemed to fill with hesitancy and her voice sounded like there was a sense of self doubt underneath, almost as if she didn't know what she'd do if John said he wanted to end it.

"Why?" John asked standing up now; his mind had been sent spiralling after her question, even if he had been ready to tell her that they had to stop this earlier on when Derek walked into his room. The question seemed to confuse Cameron, who looked up at him as John took a step closer to her. Staring down at her he could tell that she didn't know what to say to his question, there was no doubt in his mind that Cameron's CPU was trying to come up with the answer. "Do you want to?" he asked, he would have said yes if she had asked him before everyone seemed to have the resolute need see him; but now he was letting her decide. It seemed odd, letting the cyborg choose; but John wanted to see if she was actually different like she had told him back in 1999, giving her the decision to make instead of telling her what they'd do, was a risk but one he needed to see.

"I want..." Cameron said quietly before stopping, she seemed to be having trouble with her answer. There had been things she had done because it would benefit her mission whatever that was; her kissing John the first time mostly fell under this category but not the second time, she had said that she did it because she wanted to, but now with different definitions coming of _want_ flashing in front of her eyes she wasn't so sure. "I..." once again she stopped unsure of just how she should finish her statement and answer the question, watching her John waited with what might have been baited breath. When it didn't seem like Cameron knew what her answer was going to be, John decided to make it for them. Taking another step towards her, and for the first time taking the initiative; John cupped the side of her face before bending down covering her mouth with his own.

For the first time, Cameron was taken off guard, standing there with her eyes wide open. For his part in it, John's stomach was doing back flips as there was no reaction coming from her, slowly his hand trailed down her cheek and neck before going around the back of Cameron's head with his fingers threading gently through her hair. It seemed that this was enough for the female Terminator to be taken from her daze, a ghost of a smile formed on her face as her own brown eyes drifted shut; reciprocating the kiss, her smaller but stronger arms wrapping around John's neck. Feeling her return his kiss, John was able to calm himself down somewhat, the worry that he had felt was slowly replaced feeling her tongue trying to enter his mouth, allowing her access he was once again met with the same taste that had been imprinted in his brain.

The two in their embrace in John's room didn't seem to realise that they were both still standing up, which only lasted until slight forwards movements by John started to lead them towards his bed. Unfortunately that was as far s they made it, Cameron's coltan body stopped her from being able to be pushed onto the bed, pulling away slightly; John couldn't stop the small laugh that escape his mouth, face flushed and eyes hazy as he stared back at Cameron who was now looking at him, her lips swollen and not understanding why he was laughing as her brown eyes seemed to shine. Letting his hand drift from the back of her head back towards her cheek tracing it with one finger lighter then necessary.

Looking at his smiling face, Cameron seemed to fall into a trance; lifting her own hand and letting it run down John's face. Unlike his own caress where he seemed to know what to do, Cameron seemed to be ready to take in all the contours on his face, starting at the top of his face and making her way down, before finally having her fingers run over his lips earning a small smile from the future saviour of the world.

"So there's your answer." John whispered the faint smile still on his face.

--

Getting up the next day was a problem for Cameron, it wasn't that she slept but sometimes went into a standby state; it was the fact that she was laying alongside a half naked John Connor, his arm wrapped around her waist and her head on his shoulder, but clearly not hard enough to cause him discomfort. Raising herself up, Cameron moved John's hand from around her waist before climbing out of the bed, opening his bedroom door she knew that she couldn't be found leaving his bedroom which brought up the point if either Sarah or Derek had gone into either room last night.

Walking into her own room, and the bed that had obviously been empty the night before, Cameron lay on it forcing her body to push down enough weight on it to make it seem like at one point in the night she had been there. Stopping in her movements on her bed, she tried to hear any noise in the house, but much like she would have thought there was only silence filling the moderate size home. Even the usual movements of Sarah were missing, informing Cameron of one of three things, either Sarah was no longer in the house, she had been in her standby state for longer then she thought or it was still early. A quick flash of the time revealing it was 6:37 A.M in front of her eyes, letting her know that it was still early to be up and out of bed for a human.

Convinced that she had now done enough to make it seem that she was only a cyborg, a machine, _metal_; Cameron left her room, once again her tiny feet not making a sound as they travelled over the carpeted floors leading towards the kitchen. If she was capable there would have been no doubt that she would have jumped out of her skin, seeing Derek Reese sitting at the table, glaring in her general direction with the utmost hatred in his eyes.

"Sleep well?" he spat out at her, you didn't need to be a Terminator to sense the hostility coming from the old resistance fighter, and it seemed that it wasn't something that effected Cameron who merely took a seat at the table opposite him.

"I don't sleep." She replied almost thinking she had repeated that statement over and over, it was definitely what she thought to be a dangerous design flaw for humans, the fact that they needed to be told the same thing more than once because they could never seem to remember it. Her reply seemed to earn an even more hate filled look, something that she didn't understand; she knew that Derek much like many of the resistance fighters didn't trust or like her, but they did trust John and never openly stood against her when she was with him which was most of the time.

"You don't sleep, so you were just curled up against John is his bed because of what?" he asked, this seemed to earn him Cameron's full attention as she seemed to be absently looking out of the window, her brown eyes now snapped onto Derek. "What you didn't I'd trust you in this house when everyone was in bed did you?" before any further conversation could take place, both heads snapped towards the corridor were an obviously tired Sarah Connor walked into the kitchen, either ignoring or just not noticing the cold atmosphere around the other two there. For perhaps the first time since seeing her, torturing him and ready to kill John Connor in the future, Derek was able to see the panic in her normally emotionless brown eyes and it force him to suppress the laugh that needed to escape.

"Don't forget what you have to do today." Sarah spoke from over her shoulder towards Cameron, she was still going over her decision to not move away again, there was no way the police would just die down and not look for John; and with him having the house as his home address there was more than a good chance they'd be back maybe with a warrant to search for him and even Derek. There was no reply to her statement, but Sarah had either expected or wanted one, much like her son's uncle she didn't feel the need to talk to Cameron too much and even less then to refer to her like a person would.

Nodding slightly at Sarah, Cameron slowly rose to her feet leaving the kitchen but not before she gave Derek one last glace, only find a slightly smug smile on his face.

Stretching like a cat as his whole body hunched together before slowly relaxing, John slowly turned to the side, his arm lifting up before dropping down expecting to find something there. Finding nothing other than his mattress and quilt, tiredly picking up his head and looking over at the other side of his bed with narrowed eyes; he could have sworn that there had been another body there a few hours ago, mainly Cameron's body. With a grunt he half sat up in his bed, before dropping back down with a thud, John had never been a morning person and was in no mood to try and force himself up even if he knew he had to be out of bed, to do nothing now he wasn't going back to school.

"Get up!" was the order from the other side of his door followed by three bangs on it, picking his head back up John stared at the door hoping whoever it was would just go away and leave him in bed, it had been far too long since he had a lie in and was trying to enjoy it. "You've got a minute John," now registering the annoyed voice of his uncle, John forced himself up and out of his bed before ambling to the door and opening it. "Get showered and dressed we're going for a run." Was the last thing he was told before his uncle walked away from him, staring at his retreating back still in his sleepy daze, John had no idea what was wrong but shuffled towards the bathroom, no matter their differences on Cameron, Derek had still saved him the day before.

Fifteen minutes later, a more awake and wetter John Connor walked into the kitchen, his hair stuck to his face and almost dropping into his eyes; turning to look at him, Derek couldn't help the smile as his nephew resembled a slightly drowned rat. Having nothing else to say to him the older male started to walk towards the front door, before sticking his head out carefully and looking up and down the street, less than ten seconds later after decided it was safe out, he signalled for John to follow him before breaking into a light jog through the open door.

The first four blocks had the pair running in silence, each taking it in turns to look around making sure that no one was following them and there weren't any police cars around them. It wouldn't do for John to be arrested again and Derek with him trying to explain just what happened the day before during his break out. However it didn't take long for them to start relaxing and not worry about the non-existent threat to them at the minute, instead began the game of one-upmanship as both John and Derek would put an extra burst of speed into their run forcing the other to try and keep up.

"We need to talk about _it_," Derek said after a few minutes of silence, he had a real reason for dragging John out of the house when Sarah had gone out for shopping, this conversation was best done between the two of them alone.

"You mean Cameron." John replied becoming increasingly annoyed with his uncle's and mum's refusal to call her by her name, he wasn't looking at the older male and if he was he would have seen the look of disgust on his face when his nephew used its name.

"Yeah Cameron," the older male spoke snorting in anger, "walking around with a name like it's a person when it's not. Don't think you can train it like a pet, because it's the last thing you'll think." The pair had now stopped their run and had turned to face each other in a standoff, but before John could open his mouth to speak Derek cut him off. "What do you think you're doing, having it stay in your room and sleep in your bed with you? It's not some advance blow up doll that you can use to get off with, it's a killer John and one day they'll kill you." He warned staring at the fifteen year old who looked so much like his future self right now wanting to smack one of his commanders for second guessing him, when he'd managed to not only keep them alive but fight back against Skynet.

"It won't be this one." Was the forceful reply said with as much conviction and belief that Derek had heard since coming back to 2007, a sharp reply was on his tongue but before he could give it his nephew had turned and continued their run, forcing his uncle to have to chase him.


	11. Chapter 11

A/n: Wooo a new chapter for this, i'd taken a break out for other T:TSCC stories as you all know, but if i didn't update this when i had the chance or ideas then it could have been ignored for months. And with watching season 2 and what's happened, i don't think i'm taking Cameron out of character anymore with who she's going to be, even if this story is in season 1.

Walking through the off white halls of the school, Cameron wasn't sure what Sarah hoped to achieve by sending her here again for two reasons; John wasn't there and she wouldn't be able to protect John. Face after face turned to look at her in shock, the events of the day before in all of their minds. Watching a student trying to escape and in the end being tackled to the floor by police officers before being dragged towards a car, the brunettes association with the male who had been arrested was sketchy at best; but there was a rumour saying she had been caught in a storage cupboard with him only an hour earlier.

Browns eyes staying forward, Cameron had no need to look for a threat, even if a Terminator walked into the school looking for John there was now absolutely no chance of them being able to find him; and if they saw her it would be unlikely that they'd attack, unless they knew of her mission. Walking towards her locker as she had watched John do on a daily basis at school, she frowned at the sight of a group of girls standing in front of it; none of whom had talked to her the day before. Slowing her pace, as she picked out their formation was meant to have been one of intimidation, at the centre of the group Cameron was able to see the girl that had been talking to John a few days ago, and gave him her phone number.

"You best stay away from John," Marianna said stepping forwards, glaring at the slightly smaller female, her eyes flashing to her and then around the group Cameron was about to tell her that she needed to stay around him to keep him safe; before she could though her infiltration protocols flashed informing her that it was meant in a way that stated possession of John. She wasn't aware of anyone owning John, and was sure that he wouldn't have liked the fact someone thought he belonged to them. Almost in a condescending manner though her ability to play back anything she had heard, seen or done showed her what the pair had been up to for the past few days, and she could only come to the conclusion that if John belonged to anyone, he belonged to her.

"I know for a fact that John likes having me around." Cameron replied a hint of a smug smile forming on her face as she knew what implication her words held. There had been a loose circle forming around the group of girls as they spoke or tossed veiled threats and insults at each other, but it was the cyborg's words that caught all the attention from the students. Most people had ignored the rumours about the pair being found in one of the school's storage cupboards when they first heard about it, John being arrested on school property and in front of them gave the rumour more interested and it spread like wildfire within the rest of the day, but for Cameron to come out and say what she just had meant there was no doubt left in any of their minds.

Glaring at Cameron who was still smiling her smug smile, Marianna stormed past her making sure her shoulder knocked into the other female; only to stagger into one of her friends to the side feeling like she'd just walked into a brick wall. Acting like nothing had happened to her, she straightened herself out before continuing her march off more than aware of the eyes following her; she just had to find a way to make sure she had a way of getting back at Cameron for embarrassing her like that in front of so many students. Watching the group of girls walk off, the Terminator turned back to the students that were still openly gawping at what they had just witnessed, offering them what looked like an innocent but friendly smile she turned back to her locker, pulling two textbooks out before walking off.

Continuing her way to her history lesson, Cameron found herself if not happy then less annoyed about being forced to leave John alone after the small display with Marianna, while not exactly staying under the radar like Sarah had told them to; she knew that what transpired would at least make her appear less of a freak, as John had told her. Taking her seat in the centre of the room, not understanding the other teenager's nature to make sure they were sat as far back as possible from the teacher; surely it was a poor choice if the limited vision and being unable to hear the teacher's voice as their friends spoke over him. Having only engaged John in conversation when she first found him, Cameron's eyes tracked the girl that started walking in her direction, almost instantly she was bombarded with information; her height, weight, age, and threat level. Seeing that there was no chance of a threat to herself, as well as finding out she wasn't a Terminator; she quickly lost interest with the girl to her right.

"Were you lying," the girl whispered to Cameron as she pulled out her notebook and started to scribble down what the teacher was talking about, "or are you really dating John?" she asked having been there for what had happened between Cameron and Marianna. "Because then if that's true, then girl you are in luck." She continued not giving the female Terminator a chance to even speak as she went on, looking at the girl to her side Cameron was ready to point out that anyone who was in any type of relationship with John Connor was lucky if Judgement day arrived. "You know he'd make your bed rock without trying. And him being arrested yesterday. Can I say yummy? It just adds to how dangerous he looks, you know?" Tilting her head to the side, Cameron was unsure of just how dangerous John looked, with roughly a third of his face covered when his hair dropped down, it was actually impossible to say how he looked a lot of the time; unless you were close to him.

"I am dating John," she replied once the other girl finally stopped talking, like the girl had proved to her; what she had said to Marinna had been taken in the way she wanted it to and was already being spread around the school with speed that amazed the cyborg posing girl. Pale blue eyes continued to stare at her, waiting for Cameron to carry on talking even if she didn't know what else to say. Yummy; delicious, lip-smacking, luscious, scrumptious. She wasn't certain that any of those words could truthfully be put on John, but after her last comment knew she wouldn't be able to come up with something negative. "He's yummy," she finished adding a sigh that she'd heard girl use during her time in New Mexico as she searched for John and Sarah.

Her comment seemed to be good enough for the other girl, who only smiled knowingly as if she knew about John, bringing up all the information she had been given about him at this age and what she'd found out since arriving in 1999 before taking them to 2007 Cameron knew for a fact that the girl had never interacted with him. With the conversation seemingly over, she was able to continue with appearing to write down notes from the class; coming from the time she had Cameron already knew about the history of humans; and how it seemed to be in their nature to destroy each other and themselves. If it weren't for John Connor and what he was, then they would be doomed for a very different reason in four years.

Hearing the bell signal for the end of the class, Cameron wasted no time in picking her books up and walking towards the door, the same speed and desire to get out of the class that she had seen John use on one than one occasion. Once in the corridor again she watched as students, either talked to each other as they tried to waste as much time as they could before going to the next class; or pulled out their timetables to see where they had to be next, having no need to look at her timetable and no one there for her to talk to; Cameron started walking towards her next class.

"Hey again," a voice behind her called out causing her to spin around and see who it was; "I didn't get a chance to say before, but I'm Stacey." The girl who sat next to Cameron in history said smiling once again, returning the grin in kind even though she didn't know that the other girl had been in her art class; the cyborg took the same seat at the back as she had done last time she was there.

"Cameron," she replied before turning to the canvas in front of her that held the picture she had been working on last time. Unlike the other students who quickly started to gather art supplies to finish their work, Cameron could safely say that she had finished her painting, and with the recent events that had happened the image while was something she wanted to happen, her at John's side as he fought and destroyed Skynet and the Terminators that would try to kill him. There was one thing she wanted more than that, a image where she was at this time's John Connor's side only he wouldn't have to face life or death everyday; which turned him into the closed off man that he'd become to win the war. With the stealth and sneakiness that made her such a skilled infiltrator, Cameron picked the canvas up and while scanning the room for anyone being aware of her movements, slowly left the class.

Having been able to trick the resistance and get close enough to almost kill John Connor in the future, Cameron was able to easily navigate herself through the corridors of the school avoiding any of the teachers that would want to know what she was doing out there. Walking through the parking lot towards the car that she had drove to the school, unlike most students who would feel the need to look over their shoulder to make sure no one was watching them skip school, however Cameron merely opened the driver's door and climbed in before placing her picture on the passenger seat. Putting the car into gear, she pulled out of the school's parking lot like a madman not caring about the speed limit signs around the outside wall.

- - -

With it seeming that neither Derek nor John wanted to talk to each other after coming home from their run, Sarah was left watching her son dismantle and clean the collections of guns that his uncle had dropped onto the kitchen table in front of him. There hadn't even been a request for him to do it, instead John had shot an annoyed glare at the back of the older man's head before starting to work on them, whatever had happened or been said between the two of them was something that she wanted to get to the bottom of. Looking over her shoulder to watch Derek walk towards the living room, Sarah couldn't help but think that whatever had happened had something to do with that morning when Cameron had been in the kitchen with the resistance fighter.

Cameron, that was something else Sarah was unable to wrap her mind around. When she had first seen the female Terminator, she had been just like the last one John had sent back to save them; but lately she had definitely taken her protecting John to the next level. Well not including letting him get arrested, but apart from that she had been following him like he was god and for any teenage male who had her following them; it would seem like they'd just won the lottery. Sarah could only hope that John would be able to still see Cameron for what she was, and yet she felt that he was forgetting that more and more with each passing day; especially after he and Derek came back from breaking out and he took Cameron out of the room straight away.

"Have a good run?" Sarah asked looking at her son, during the years she spent on the run and training him, she had always know John to go running during the early hours of the morning. But it was something that stopped when they met Charley and it looked like their lives were going to be normal for the first time since Kyle Reese appeared all those years ago.

"No," John replied not looking up from the gun he was putting back together, anymore conversation was cut short by the sound of a car pulling up outside the house. Confused as to who would be coming to their house, both Connor's stared at each other before Sarah pulled out a pistol from the back of her jeans and slowly started walking towards the door; Derek coming from the living room carrying a shot gun in his hands as he flashed both of them a look of concern. As the trio waited for whomever it was to try and enter the house, guns ready to unload on them if it were someone they didn't know; it almost seemed to be an anticlimactic event when Cameron opened the door and stared at the three of them, confusion etched in her eyes.

Ever trigger happy, Derek pulled the trigger letting fire with his gun. Luckily or unluckily depending on whose point of view it was, his shot was off target by quite a bit and instead of catching the metal as he had hoped, merely went through the canvas that she had been carrying and was now looking down at; with what Derek would have been pissed off to see what he thought was fake sadness. Spinning around to glare at the resistance fighter for shooting when he saw it was Cameron; Sarah was also in the process of calming herself back down; before she walked away tucking the gun back into her jeans.

"Are you ok?" John asked walking over to the cyborg that was only now moving her gaze from the ruined canvas, ignoring the snort of disgust from his uncle behind him when he asked Cameron if she were ok. The fact that she was back home with over half the day left of school to go didn't seem to filter into any of their minds, waiting for an answer John watched as she slowly raised the canvas to him before staring at the back of it before letting her gaze settle on him; wanting to see what his reaction was going to be.

"I drew you a picture." Cameron replied in the same tone she had used when she first met him, something that she had taken to using with John mainly when the two of them were alone; taken back by the almost innocent reply that she gave him, John looked towards the ruined picture that was held against her body for him to see. With the large scattering bullet having caught the centre of the canvas, all he was able to make out was the bottom of a building with what looked to be a Terminator laying on the fall eyes blackened out to show it was _dead_, and parts of two people standing on the building; but not who they were. The fact that this was a gift for him, though told John enough to say who at least one of them were meant to have been. Him. Not only what the picture was of, but the fact that Cameron had without having to or being ordered went out and made it for him, caught something in John; not thinking he leant towards her and placed a light kiss on her forehead before pulling away, watching as usual as her eyes seemed to light up from his affection.

Walking back towards the kitchen this time with his protector in tow, John stood watched as his mum finished putting the guns back together with a speed that seemed almost demonic; without a word Cameron walked past him and placed the destroyed picture next to the bin, even though she had shown him it there was no point in it being kept now with the condition it was in. Knowing full well how he felt about her being around, Cameron didn't see any logic in being in the same room as Derek, so stood at the other side of the kitchen counter; watching John watch Sarah.

"Being arrested has resulted in you gathering a following among the female contention at school," she spoke as John walked over to the sink and poured himself a glass of water, more than aware of the amused look Sarah was giving him as he kept his back turned. "A girl already told me how you belonged to her today; you can make a bed rock without trying and you're yummy." She finished changing her voice to match Stacey's as she said yummy, spitting out his water and turning red in the face John spun around on the spot to stare incredulously at Cameron while Sarah couldn't stop the small laugh at what she just heard.

Brown eyes slowly trailing down his body, with the excuse that she was scanning him to make sure there were no visible injuries what could have happened during her two and a half hour stint away from him. Taking a second to realise what she was doing and what it looked like; Cameron pulled her eyes away from John's body before turning to face Sarah who was staring at the machine suspiciously.

"It's not efficient for me to continue with school if John is no longer there," she started voicing the very thoughts that had been in her head earlier that day, by all accounts she could merely refuse to leave the house unless John was going somewhere knowing full well that none of them could force her to do anything. "My mission is to protect John, and it's impossible for me to fulfil that if I'm, being sent where he isn't." She added making sure that her point was known to the older woman, who had nothing if life but to make sure her son was safe at all times due to the nature of his birth and just what his destiny held for him. Staring at the machine that she still wasn't sure if it were trustworthy or not in her own eyes, since her son seemed ready to put his life in its hands openly; Sarah left the kitchen without a word or a backward glance. Remembering a time when protecting John was her job and her job alone.


End file.
